Five Things I Miss and Five Things I Don't Miss about Jakarta

Mal Sarinah in Jakarta Pusat

It's been 9 weeks since I left Jakarta and I miss the bitch! This south-east Asian concrete jungle of a city was my home for a year and what an intense experience it was? In the beginning, there was not a day that went by where I got pissed off with it and vented my frustrations to my house mates, colleagues or anyone that listened for that matter. The honest truth was that I did not love Jakarta! However, as  time went on, my attitude towards Jakarta mellowed out and I became tolerant and at some points liked it. As I mentioned before, I did not love Jakarta, but I appreciated her for taking me and not swallowing me whole as she had done to so many other foreigners. In the 9 weeks I've been away from her, I've reflected on my time there and I realised how much I got out of it. Friendship,a career option and the opportunity to travel. So I compiled a list of ten things - i.e. five things I miss and five things I don't miss - about living in Jakarta.

• I don't miss Jakarta traffic - I foreshadowed that this was going to be the bane of my existence in this blog and it continued to irritate the hell out of me the longer I lived there. Indonesians are some of the worst drivers in the world and it is any wonder why there are so many road fatalities in Jakarta alone? The worst was during wet season when people just forgot how to drive and created five lanes of traffic with malicious sounding car horns going on and on. I however dealt with it as well as I could and just rolled with it like every other sucker.
• I miss Indonesian food  -  If I'm being very honest, I did not love Indonesian food. I thought it lacked depth of flavour and was not very diverse. I could probably call it the British of Asian cuisine (very unfair!) Most Indonesian food is served warungs ,street carts, Padang restaurants and regular restaurants that specialise in regional Indonesian cuisine. But I digress, I did love some of the food on offer and ate them with no problems and as often as I could especially if it was SO good. My favourites were Beef Rendang (2nd picture),Sate Ayam (1st picture), Nasi Uduk,Ayam Goreng and Nasi Goreng.

• I don't miss taxi drivers - I can say with confidence that around 60% of the taxi drivers in Jakarta alone have tried to rip me off. The main reason for this is because I'm non-Indonesian and female *smh*. Another pet peeve I had was the drivers' lack of knowledge of the city. Unless you know where you are going,chances are you are going to get lost. The more lost you are, the more expensive cab ride will be.That shit frustrated me to death and I walked out on a few occasions and walked to my destination.
• I miss ojeks - Oh ojeks! (picture below). So much fun and so much frustration at the same time. Let me explain the fun part, an exhilarating and often times dangerous ride on these mad men on bikes gets you where you need to go within reason of course (ojeks don't go from one end of Jakarta to the next). Often, they got me where I needed to go in quick time, weaving in and out of traffic like a boss. The frustration came with bargaining with the occasional a-hole and dealing with their chauvinistic attitudes towards me, which I dealt with by telling them in kind exactly what I thought in English and Bahasa. Regardless, I enjoyed the ojeks and took them rather than taxis.

• I don't miss the pollution - Jakarta is without a doubt one of the dirtiest cities I've ever lived in. The air reeked of car fumes, rubbish was strewn in the streets and rivers.Look at the picture below at the skyline,look at the smog! It's not like I'm not used to pollution but I had not seen it on this level before and I'm sure the more I travel, the more I'll see it.

• I miss Ladies' Nights -  Apart from Facebar, this was my home. Nothing more satisfying than drinking cocktails that were free after a long ass day. Ladies' Nights were in specific bars around the city. However, my favourite and the one in which I was a patron was Thursday night at the Grand Hyatt. It made sense because I did not work the next day lol! Can you imagine Ladies Night in Edinburgh or just anywhere in the UK? The bars would be drunk dry.
• I don't miss being stared at  - I already talked about my feelings of being black in Jakarta in this post. It became quite irritating towards the end that people on my street who I saw day in day out stared at me like I had two heads. Don't get me wrong I am not the only person who has been 'othered', many of my colleagues- majority of whom are white - had experienced being stared at like they had not seen white people before. Bizarre considering you do see many some tourists trekking around Jakarta. Personally, I don't mind if people interact with me to try and get to know me but staring with no action is just plain rude and scary. 
•  I miss being in Indonesia - As much as I did not love Jakarta, I could not help but fall in love with Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and it was an honour living there. I only visited the popular islands of Bali (1st picture), Lombok (3rd picture) and Flores (2nd picture) but there is so much more to see and I would like to return and explore this lovely land. If I were to return to Indonesia, I would visit Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan,Papua and other parts of Java. I forgot to mention that I miss the heat now that I am back in 'sunny' Scotland.

• I don't miss smoking - I have a nasty secret to tell you... I started smoking again when I was in Indonesia!In Indonesia, there isn't a smoking ban like there is in the UK and cigarettes are dirt cheap (£1.00 a pack). Nearly everyone and there mother smoked here and it didn't help that my housemates and co-workers smoked too! It didn't take long for me to start having the odd one when I was drinking at a bar or a club. So one became two and then I started buying my own pack five years after quitting. I then decided to quit a month before Doc visited and I was fag free until October when I was in the middle of my breakdown. I quit them for good in the new year since I was going back home (at £8 pack in the UK, can you blame me?!). But why start again in the first place? I don't know perhaps boredom, peer pressure, lack of vice, whatever; I started and stopped as soon as I could. Do I miss it? Not really in all honesty.
• I miss my friends - A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles is a quote from Tim Cahill. This certainly resonates with me as I met so many interesting and awesome people. I met some wonderful Indonesians who made me feel welcome and at home. They made me feel comfortable and put up with me butchering their language. I will also mostly miss my fellow teachers especially the ones I had the distinct pleasure of working and living with. They had been nothing but my tower of strength and support during my year. I certainly made some friends for life out there with whom I would like to embark on another adventure wherever it may be. As a matter of fact, Little C and I are going to Denmark in May and the Jays (picture below) are coming to Scotland next week with Girl J staying with me for a couple of days. Excited much? Yes I am.

Have you ever missed a place after returning home? How did you cope being back home?

BEST NEWS EVER!

On holiday in Greece 2010

I will be reunited with my beloved Doc on the 27th of August.By the time he gets here, it will be 8 months since we had last seen each other, crazy eh?! We will most probably head for Bali to relax and reconnect. I am so fortunate to have this wonderful man in my life that I am literally bursting with joy and excitement!

Do you have loved ones visiting you in far-flung places?

The First Seven Days...in fragments

Since I have now been in Jakarta for two weeks, I think it is fair that I give a run-down of what my first seven days were like so here goes:

 THURSDAY 31ST OF JAN - Arrived at Jakarta International Airport in the afternoon where I was picked up by my colleague - who I will refer to from now on as Irish C - who took me to my humble abode and gave me the low-down on Jakarta and school life. As soon as he left me to go back to work, I had a much needed nap in my room. When I woke up, I was greeted by one of my six house mates, Scottish J . Since I was still in a bit of a sleep induced haze and not to  mention the fact that I did not know much about my surroundings, J took me to get some money changed and got some beers. By the time we got back, a few more house mates turned up ( two Canadians girls, Girl J (who I will be working with at the same school) and Little C and another Brit dude, Big P) after their long day at work. We promptly went out for dinner with other teachers which  included my other two other house mates (English J, a dude and another British girl L) from other schools and two which was cool but then, the jet lag kicked in around Midnight. Got back home where I slept with my eyes open (I can't sleep in a new place) but drifted off eventually.

Indonesian Rupiah - Still trying to get my head around this currency

FRIDAY 1ST OF FEB - Woke up at 3 (yes 3 in the afternoon, jet lag claimed me!) and realized much of the day was gone ; regardless, I went out and got myself a cheap phone at a shopping mall called Thamrin City (cheap bazaar type plaza). I also got dinner with Little C at Grand Indonesia Mall (grand as it is hella dear). Spoke to my boyfriend via Skype to say I am good (I updated on Facebook the day before that I was OK) and people are cool. Did I mention, that I was woken by the Call to Prayer at 4:30 in the morning?! I think that was why I spent the whole day in bed.

SATURDAY 2ND OF FEB - Found my way back to Thamrin City to a supermarket to get some toiletries food, hangers and the like to set up home and finally unpack my bags. I also got my phone registered and got credit on it thanks to a Indonesian girl who spoke good English and two cheeky boys who spoke no English.

SUNDAY 3RD OF FEB - Went to a buffet with my house mates and other teachers. I ate and drank my weight in seafood, fish ,cheese, cakes and red wine. This will probably be the last time I eat this will in Jakarta. More on that in another post. I also found myself at a party with a few Jamaicans living in Jakarta, thanks to a couple of acquaintances -Jamaican D and American M- I made before coming to Jakarta (gotta love social media). The party was great with Jamaican food and music I was getting down to some old school Dancehall tunes like no one's business, why not?!

Buffet Food

MONDAY 4TH OF FEB - First day at school I was picked  up from my house and taken to school by a driver; who will all also drop me home (this is just for two weeks though *sad face*). I was introduced the school's Director of Studies Big J, an Englishwoman who just came back from compassionate leave. The electricity also went out at the school for a LONG time, but in that time I became acquainted with the local staff and a warung (Indonesian eateries) where I got my lunch. But regardless, I got to meet my fellow teachers and observed a couple of classes. One with pre-schoolers and the other high level teenagers (taught by Girl J). This showed me the stark differences between teaching kids and older kids.

TUESDAY 5TH OF FEB - Spent another day at the school observing a couple of lessons taught by time with senior teacher, London boy T and Irish C.

WEDNESDAY 6TH OF FEB -A day of firsts - Indonesian rain and Indonesian traffic. The latter is something that will irk me on no end. I also co-taught a class of intermediate girls. I planned the lesson with one of the local teachers -there are three at my school- and added a Taylor Swift tune to the lesson to teach the 3rd Conditional because pop music in English lessons always translate well. This class will be mine to teach for the coming weeks so it was nice to get to know the girls.

Jakarta Traffic

THURSDAY 7TH OF FEB - Finished work early.One observation and going over lesson ideas with Big J because I teach my first class on Saturday *biting nails* *silent scream*. I also did another observation of a lesson with Brighton A , a dude from Brighton.

FRIDAY 8TH OF FEB - Day of rest (no school!) but planned my 3 hour class for Saturday and went to another part of Jakarta known as Kelapa Gading and met my acquaintance from the Jamaican party. I got there by taxi in Jakarta traffic at a tune of 50,000rph ( £3) which made my soul cry as it is pretty steep. Kelapa Gading reminds me so much of Croydon near South London, a city within a city because it was PROPER busy! I also tried Nasi Goreng- the Indonesian national dish- for the first time at a restaurant there and it was DELICIOUS!

One of the many shopping malls in Indonesia. This one is in Kelapa Gading

Roundabout in Kelapa Gading

Yummy Nasi Goreng and Chicken Satay 

So there you have it my first few days. Stay tuned to find out how my first class went.

Are you an expat living or had lived  in Jakarta? How did you find it?

Hi, I'm New Here

Hi my name is Chanelle - like the fashion house but spelt differently - and I am a first time teacher of English living and working in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. How the hell did I get here? Simples, I did a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course in my 'home' country of Great Britain and looked for opportunities to teach. I knew that my level of qualification was not good enough to teach in England or Europe for that matter, so I decided to look further a field into Asia.

As a continent, Asia has always fascinated because of the diversity of its people, history,multitude of cultures and warm weather. I figured if I was going to start my TEFL career somewhere why not in an Asian country?!

So I began looking and doing research on a couple of Asian countries that interested me namely China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. After crossing off Thailand and China of my list, I decided to apply for the EPIK programme in Korea and also apply for a couple of jobs in Indonesia (one in Jakarta and the other in Cirebon). To cut a long story short, I did not meet certain criteria for EPIK thus my application was rejected *smh* but, I had an interview with a Jakarta school and will here I am!

                                                 No I did not take this photo

It's nearly been two weeks since I got off the plane from Soekerno- Hatta International Airport, cranky from lack of sleep after flying for over 15 hours and also for not having a shower since I left London that Wednesday afternoon (I arrived on a hot ass Thursday afternoon). I am still adjusting myself to this new life in a culture that is as strange to me as I am as strange to the locals, LOL! But I digress, I have now thrown myself into my new role and loving my colleagues and the people I have surrounded myself with since arriving in Jakarta, if this is a path that is right for me then I will surely know sooner rather than later.

So join me as I natter on about my triumphs and tribulations of teaching and living as a bule* in Indonesia.

* Bule - Indonesian for foreigner but normally for those of the fair skinned persuasion.