Job Discussion Forums

[wailing_imam]

I posted this on another thread earlier, about why one chooses to live in Jakarta.

Quite simply it is the easiest place for a foreigner in Indonesia to live. Supermarkets, pubs, gyms, excellent dining, bookshops all the usual blah blah stuff that Western cities have, in a screwy Eastern city. You go out to places like Lampung, Semarang, Malang and what are you going to do? Time to write that novel you have always dreamed of!

Westerners can get away with a lot more in Jakarta than in smaller cities where the stigma of being foreign is much higher. You can roger the girl next door in Jakarta, but good luck in Pekanbaru.

I lived in Jakarta for a couple of years. Enough was enough for me. I felt I couldn't lead a normal life there. I couldn't spend much time outside, the traffic and air started to really get on my nerves and being percieved as a walking wallet started to rub. The illusion of living a fine lifestyle of bars and girls and fine meals wore off with the lack of being able to walk down the street without worrying about falling into a sewer.

The Indonesians do smile an awful lot, but behind those smiles is a very real and dark sense of desperation and in Jakarta, a city of bright lights and promises of wealth, one feels that more than any other place in the archepeligo.

BACL TO OP

Drgonzo, what I don't understand is why the hell you are still there? There is, as you say, a lot of negativity in your post. Jakarta is full of western people that moan and moan about how shit the place is but get so used to the white man's paradise aspects of it that they can never leave. I hope you have not fallen into that trap, there is a whole world of clean air and pedestrian idyll out there.

Jakarta is the ultimate fool's paradise....

[wailing_imam]

Your dwelling: Kemayoran or Rajawali?

[drgonzo]

The point is I am leaving. I have two weeks left and I can't wait to board that flight. I wrote this actually mostly for me to look back on if I ever forget how I was feeling at this time...

You want an example of The Law here? This happened to me this very afternoon... no word of a lie.

I was on my way to work, and my taxi was stopped at a police check - you know, the ones for registrations, bombs, etc.
The cop asked for my ID. As I said above, I am leaving in 2 weeks, so my passport, KITAS, and Bluebook are all at immigration having my EPO (exit permit) issued. I showed him a photocopy of my passport and KITAS - but thats not good enough.
The cop could not understand how there is no way that my KITAS and passport could both be at immigration to get processed and also in my pocket at the same time.
I argued a bit, and I speak enough Indonesian, but I was getting nowhere. I refused to offer a bribe because I was not in the wrong - so he said I would have to come to the station. Instead I called my boss and she spoke to him and tried to explain the physical impossibility of my having my passport in my pocket. My boss could not get through to him but agreed to pay him 200000rp as a bribe, as I was nearly late for class and it would look bad on the school to have me miss it.
Talk about corruption.

[Zorobabel]

[drgonzo]

Sorry, I must have misunderstood... I assumed your first quote:

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Yes, JKT is a hole: Too many people, POLLUTION, too much traffic, too expensive, nothing to do apart from go to the overpriced bars and find overpriced girls or go to the mall and walk around with the Indonesian/Chinese empty-headed youth...

Or, make some decent friends, find a good girl (bad girls are a minority here - just that the bars are full of them leading you to think they are all bad) ... as said before, find one who has no interest in BULE, become friends first and see where it goes. Join a sports club or gym, take up a hobby - golf, photography, martial arts, Yoga - JKT has facilities and clubs for almost everything.

If you spend your salary and your weekends in the bars and clubs you're going to meet scum - but itsn't it the same everywhere?

JKT is a hole - it is an incredibly frustrating and annoying place, but it is possible to have a good life here (without a family IMO).

[adrian de la touche]

where did you live naer jambu dua, i live in indra prasta satu been here 2 and half years; a nice quiet place with plenty of local colour. where did you work in bogor? ef babylon?
have to say alot of your original post certainly rings true if im honest with myself. the joys of being an expat....
in dealings with the police i can only suggest not speaking any indonesian, the lads round here dont know much english and having exhausted their supply it doesnt take too much smiling benignly before they begin to lose face and send you unscathed on your way.
better luck in the next country

[drgonzo]

I can't remember the exact name... jl sempur or something... its the river valley area not far from the gardens and the big football pitch.
When in Bogor I worked at an environmental consulting company... back when I had a real job... I wasn't lucky at getting more contracts after that and had to switch to teaching English if I wanted to stay.

[TEAM_PAPUA]

I really enjoyed reading the original post: well written and the points were well made. There are also some very good replies. I think this should be essential reading for anyone thinking of coming to Jakarta to work.

I think it's time for a few weeks in the mountains - chill out and forget the consequences of poorly planned, rapid urbanisation

[basiltherat]

life in jakarta, i used to say, could be summed in a few expressions:

hello mister
mau kemana= where are you going
habis = it's finished / there is / are no more
nggak ada = there is/are none
nanti aje = later
susah dech = mmmm that's difficult you see
nggak tahu = i dont know
mungkin = maybe
gimana yah = let me think

anyone on the ground there care to add more ?

best
basil

[rayman]

kok lama? - What's the deal with taking so long?
ga sopan - no manners/respect
terserah deh - up to you/them
pusing gue - I've got a headach/I'm frustrated
biarin aja - just let it be

[gugelhupf]

Insha Allah = no (polite form)

e.g. A: Will the work on my roof be finished today as promised?
B: Insha Allah, pak.

[drgonzo]

Alright all,
my time has come. One final piss-up and sayonara tomang.
Good bye to the big durian.... somethings I will miss... many things I will not. All of you that choose to stay in Jakarta, I wish you the best of luck. I am leaving many friends behind and that will be the hardest part.

[DeSas]

Holy crap, buddy. What I don�t understand is why you would stay somewhere that you hated so much for so long. You'd mentioned something about the women, but come now, are you really that much of a social leper that you can�t get a date in your own country?

I have to say that my time in Indonesia, though sometimes frustrating has been a far more positive experience. I have lived in Medan, North Sumatera for three years. Although it�s not somewhere I would want to spend my two week vacation, it�s not a bad place to live. That having been said, it does take a certain breed. My parents came to visit. There are just some people who should not live in Indo� my mother is one of them. So is the guy who started this post, apparently.

I�ve never lived in Jakarta, nor do I have plans to do so, so I can�t really comment on that, but what I can tell you from my experience, is that being female and living on my own, I have never had any problems with police or locals. I don�t take shit from people trying to over charge me, I know how much things cost, have learned the language and I can handle myself so I don�t get taken for a ride. I have always been able to handle any situation without resorting to bribing anyone.

As far as work in Medan is concerned; I work at a school that not only always pays on time � without fail, takes good care of their staff (both �bule� and local), but is a great place to work. We fail the students who deserve to fail and have no qualms about doing so. I also know some teachers at other schools, some of whom are very happy where they are, some not. My advice would be to do your research before you accept a position. There are good jobs to be had. Incidentally, our school did hire a non-white native English speaker from Oz. Her parents are Sri Lankan. On average, about 40% of the teachers that have worked here since I�ve been here have signed on for a second year.

Medan is polluted and noisy. Traffic is crazy and it�s either SO hot or pissing down rain. The lure of Medan is not the city itself, but its location. I can get out of the city every weekend. It�s great. Brastagi, Bukit Lawang, Lake Toba. The roads are bad, the buses even worse, but in a few hours, I�m in the mountains, at the lake or in the jungle and it all seems worth it.

My only hope is that when people read these posts, they understand that these posts are just one person�s experience. Don�t let something that one person wrote discourage you and write-off an entire country. Your experience in indonesia will largely be dictated by your attitude.

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Did you read the entire thread? The whole thread contains several perspectives with regard to living in Indonesia and is, therefore, valuable reading for those thinking of coming to work here. At least they can see both the good and the bad points: I'm sure we can all agree there are many. The bad points either drive teachers away or keep people interested and/or annoyed, and, of course, the good points keep us here.

It is certainly more informative than simply reading the job advertisements which offer 'competitive salaries (?) and a chance to travel throughout beautiful Indonesia' - at least this way the prospective employee will know how 'competitive' the salary is and how very different the streets of Jakarta are to the tourist streets of Bali.