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Fishy
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 138
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 Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:12 pm Post subject: I Love Indonesia (also the Jakarta appreciation thread) 2 |
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About a 10 months ago I posted a thread entitled �I Love Indonesia (also the Jakarta Appreciation Thread.� As it has somehow mysteriously disappeared so here�s a new one.
In that thread I wrote how much I loved Indonesia and Jakarta and some of you asked me to post again when I had finished my contract.
Firstly, as an update to my previous thread, I still love Jakarta and Indonesia. Indonesia is a wonderful country and I would advise anyone considering coming here to do so. Jakarta has its problems but it has imo improved a lot recently. On the surface at least, the city is looking a lot cleaner than when I first arrived, although the traffic is as bad as ever and the air is quite dirty still as a result.
The food in Jakarta is imo as good as anywhere I�ve visited (including France and Belgium.) I am seriously into my food, I love eating, and in Jakarta you can eat exquisite food every day, and its affordable even to an English teacher. The seafood, Chinese, Thai and of course many varieties of Indonesian food are cooked to an amazing standard and are beautiful.
What really made Indonesia worthwhile was the breathtaking scenery. The highlights of my year have been trips to Dieng Plateau, Ujung Gentang, Bali of course, Bromo, Toba, and many beautiful places closer to Jakarta too. The drive from Yogya to Dieng and then to Semarang was incredible.
Over the course of my year in Jakarta I earned enough money (in a language mill) to live in a beautiful apartment with a stunning view of Jakarta and a beautiful swimming pool. Over the course of the year I broke even with money so I�m very pleased with that.
Of course Jakarta and Indonesia do have lots of problems too but this is a developing country. The only thing that really ever got me down in my year in Indonesia was other western teachers who spent their lives whinging about Jakarta. Unfortunately I had to listen to quite a lot of racism from other western teachers who really did look down on the Indonesian people without any understanding for situation that these people have had, growing up in a very poor developing country with terrible education.
Indonesia is a developing country. Everything in Indonesia is completely upside down compared with what I was used to in UK. If you accept this before you come and realise that things will not work as they did in other countries you�ve been to you can have a wonderful time. If you want everything to work as it does in a developed country with good education and can�t adapt then its maybe not for you.
My contract has finished now. I want to live in Indonesia long term but I�ve decided to go back to University in UK for one year to get my PGCE first. As much as I�ve enjoyed my year of TEFL the money just isn�t good enough and the people who run the language schools are generally cowboys. I�ve discovered that I love teaching so instead of spending my life in a language mill whinging about bad pay and conditions I�m going to get properly qualified before going back to Indonesia to hopefully get a good job teaching music in an International school.
So anyway, here we go again, please feel free to post here why you love Jakarta and Indonesia, ta!
Ps If any of you working in International Schools or Nat Plus know of any requirement for a music teacher around this time next year feel free to let me know. |
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basiltherat
Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 952
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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| it has imo improved a lot recently. On the surface at least, the city is looking a lot cleaner |
well, thats great news. What else of significance has changed over the time you have been there ? I mean the positive changes you have noticed. Also, just to get some balance, what aspects of living there have worsoned in your view ?
best
basil |
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Henry_Cowell
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 3352
Location: Berkeley
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Fishy, please send me a PM if you want to contact an expat American working at an international school in Jakarta. She has a teaching credential as well as degrees in music. She has been in Jakarta for many years and is also heavily involved in the local (gamelan) music scene in Jakarta and Solo. |
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Fishy
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 138
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| basiltherat wrote: |
| Quote: |
| it has imo improved a lot recently. On the surface at least, the city is looking a lot cleaner |
well, thats great news. What else of significance has changed over the time you have been there ? I mean the positive changes you have noticed. Also, just to get some balance, what aspects of living there have worsoned in your view ?
best
basil |
Hi Basil,
Well I was only there for 12 months but as I said earlier, the city really does look clean at the minute.
Also the other big change is the busway service. Its still early days but its really well linked up and you can travel all over the city now in relative safety for a tiny amount of money. The busway is usually reliable time wise to get somewhere and the people who work all ovet the service are extreamly helpful and pleasent.
I can't say I really saw anything get worse there over the year. Obviously the floods were bad (this I think probably to do with global warming caused by developed countries) and the recent air travel safety problems have been worrying, but Jakarta is changing and evolving all the the time and I just get the feeling that things will get better there. Its only ten years since the financial crisis and huge changes in Jakarta so things will take time I guess. |
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laughing_magpie06
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 282
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| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 3:12 am Post subject: |
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| I never came to Indonesia expecting things to be the same as a western country so the little quirks of third world living don't really bother me. What I will say bother me is this problem local people have about accepting advice or ideas from outside of their world. We all live in a global society and can all share experiences with each other. Unfortunately in Indonesia there is a my way or the highway attitude which has hampered the development of the country. Also you can hardly blame the west for global warming when you see buses belching black smoke and rivers chock full of garbage. |
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Fishy
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 138
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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| laughing_magpie06 wrote: |
| I never came to Indonesia expecting things to be the same as a western country so the little quirks of third world living don't really bother me. What I will say bother me is this problem local people have about accepting advice or ideas from outside of their world. We all live in a global society and can all share experiences with each other. Unfortunately in Indonesia there is a my way or the highway attitude which has hampered the development of the country. Also you can hardly blame the west for global warming when you see buses belching black smoke and rivers chock full of garbage. |
Yes you can blame the west for global warming!!!!!
Indonesia's carbon output is nothing compared to what the west pumps into the atmosphere and has been doing for a long time. China are of course catching up fast now but global warming has indeed been caused by our own developed countries, certainly not by Indonesia. Of course Jakarta's air is poluted but that's only one big city in a huge country. Of course there are other poluting cities but nothing as big as Jakarta. Its a real shame that the air is so dirty in Jakarta, but the polution is localised. It is our wonderful developed countries that are poluting the world, mainly USA and Europe.
The attitudes of the USA and Austrialian governments towards global warming are imo disgusting. |
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laughing_magpie06
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 282
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:39 am Post subject: |
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| Hello Fishy, no I am not proud of the attitudes of the governments that have washed their hands of the problem but I think you will see those governments are now on the nose and look set to be replaced. Most people in the west though have an awareness of this issue and try to be 'green' unlike here in Indonesia. Talk to most people and you will get nothing but blank looks and stares as they continue to toss rubbish out of their car windows. Also which countries have the worst records on deforestation? I think you will find Indonesia pretty high on the list, close to the mark where they rank on corruption |
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ReveurGAM
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:18 am Post subject: Pollution |
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Yes you can blame the west for global warming!!!!!
Indonesia's carbon output is nothing compared to what the west pumps into the atmosphere and has been doing for a long time. China are of course catching up fast now but global warming has indeed been caused by our own developed countries, certainly not by Indonesia. Of course Jakarta's air is poluted but that's only one big city in a huge country. Of course there are other poluting cities but nothing as big as Jakarta. Its a real shame that the air is so dirty in Jakarta, but the polution is localised. It is our wonderful developed countries that are poluting the world, mainly USA and Europe.
The attitudes of the USA and Austrialian governments towards global warming are imo disgusting. |
I hate to break it to you but the biggest carbon dioxide producers are 1) the U.S.A., 2) China, 3) Indonesia. |
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