Selamat Malam!
Greetings from the rainiest place on earth! (quite literally; look Bogor up in your encyclopaedia)
Before i go any further, I'd like to do a standard travelpod declaration for those of you who are newcomers to my proverbial wanderings.
That is- the entire content of this blog, be it indigo, audio, video or disco, is entirely my own creation. All thoughts, views, experiences and reflections have emerged from my grey matter, and mine alone. I accept your right to comment as you please, where you please, and when you please, but I reserve the right to delete anything crap or boring that you post. In addition, if you are under 18 or have a weak stomach, you read on at your own risk...
Nb: If you do not wish to be on this mailing list, simply send a polite e-mail and I shall happily stop harassing you.
So now, formalities aside, to begin...I'll do a quick back-track for those of you who haven't heard from me since I've been here and better still, for those of you that didn't know I was coming to Indonesia!
I landed two Fridays ago now and spent the first week hanging out with my fellow aussie youth ambassadors in Jakarta.
Jakarta Checklist
*Eat Martabak from a street vendor Status: completed
*Play Futsal with the locals Status: completed
*Karaoke it up nb: dancing must be included Status: completed
*Climb National Monument of Indonesia (affectionately known as Soekarno's last erection) Status: completed
*Burn my tongue so badly with Sambal (spices) that I seriously consider cutting my tongue off Status: completed
*Manage a grade 7 at an extremely inappropriate moment e.g. the national mosque Status: completed
(is that sharing too much too soon???) In all seriousness though, the Mosque was on par with the Blue Mosque in Turkey- pretty amazing...
*Have a creme bath i.e. shampoo/head & shoulder massage Status: completed
*Survive Intensive language course (VERY intense, at 8am every morning!) Status: completed
....and last but definitely not least....
*Buy and devour as many Mangosteens as possible! i.e. the most delicious fruit in the universe Status: incomplete
So that was Jakarta. Now, onto Bogor.
I spent my first day at Yayasan Cipta Mandiri (my new workplace) on Saturday, where i was totally overwhelmed by all the new faces and the looming year ahead. The name literally translates in english as the 'foundation for creating independence'; which the organisation does by providing a learning and social space for young people from pretty tough backgrounds. Many of them can't afford to go to school or university and most are from broken homes. It's hard to sum up everything that the foundation does, but that's just a brief intro for y'all.
The other side of my experience in Bogor has alot to do with the city's nickname Kota Hujan, which translated means the City of Rain. I can't really describe to you all just how much water there is in this place! I will post images asap, but in the meantime i'll share my experience of trying to meet up with a friend last Sunday afternoon...
Mission: Get to Starbucks - located in the main shopping centre in Bogor.
Critical Error #1 - Miscalculation of Point-of-Origin
The journey was doomed from the moment i misread a street name and didn't locate my point of origin properly on the map I had. I was pretty lucky to even have a map actually...Indonesians generally just don't seem to dig them.
So anyway, i set out on my journey from Gesine's house, (a German woman who helped found the Yayasan and is kindly providing a roof over my head until i find a house), trying uselessly to work out where exactly i was on this little paper map in torrential rain.
Which brings me to Critical Error # 2 - Intrinsic faith in the presence of ground underfoot.
The roads literally turn into rivers here. Luckily, I was wearing closed in shoes and thick socks.
After a short time i gave up testing puddles to see if my shoes would sink too low into the water. In one way, I think this represented a positive acceptance of the fact that my feet were gonna get soaked no matter what, so why not just embrace this new aquatic experience? Sadly, it also led to me stepping into a particularly large puddle on the sidewalk, which turned out to be a giant hole in the pavement. I subsequently found myself waist deep in water, balancing an umbrella in one hand and a fast disintegrating map in the other. Struggling to find a quick solution to my predicament, I was touched when some local children passing by (yes- just passing by without umbrellas or shoes in the biggest thunderstorm the world has ever seen) stretched out their hands to the silly foreigner trapped in the hole. I soon worked out that they were actually asking for money though, and hence had to fend for myself with the help of a particularly large tree root. How i was supposed to give anyone money, with my pockets and bag submerged in water, I will never know...
2 1/2 hours later i reached my destination, covering a distance which i can now proudly achieve in 15 mins or so.
Moral of the Story: It's Indonesia. Live with it.
I'll sign off now before it gets too mundane for you all. Never fear, i'll usually be much shorter and sweeter than this. Just wanted to sum up the first two weeks to give you an idea.
Til next time.
xxx
More thumbnails ...
Bogor Hotels
