Job Discussion Forums

[darkcity]

This might sound like a completely ridiculous question, but bear with me.

I want to teach in Jakarta, but I have a severe phobia about bugs (cockroaches especially). How often can I expect to encounter them there (especially in living quarters)?

I lived in Australia for 8 years, ultimately leaving because of the roaches. I'm considering hypnotherapy to overcome my fear.

[Chris Patton]

There's nothing ridiculous about the question. Lots of people have a similar phobia.

Unfortunately its impossible to completely avoid cockroaches in Jakarta. There are some things you can do to try and minimise the experience.

First of all, try to find accommodation in a newer building or newer subdivision. Nowhere is completely clear, but older areas are worse.

Regardless of where you end up, there are a number of ways to deal with the little buggers. There are several brands of mothball-like products that you can put in bathrooms or near drains. It's also easy to find shared accomodation with a housekeeper, who will likely be happy to try harder to keep them away if she knows about your problem.

I live in BSD, a suburb of Jakarta. My current house is about 3 years old. I encounter a cockroach, alive or dead, maybe once or twice a month. I've never had to deal with 2 at once.

By way of comparison, I once lived in a much older house a few streets over and regularly came home to find half a dozen dead ones in my bathroom.

Good luck!

[basiltherat]

just diverging slightly, and perhaps of interest,you will certainly see a lot of rats (bigguns too) roaming around; especially in some down-market areas.

to avoid them as best you can, try getting accommodation where the street-side drains are covered i.e. where the 'gots' are not open.

I agree with Chris, get something on a relatively new housing estate such as Citra Garden 5

Unfortunately, where your particular accommodation is kept less-inviting to rats, if your surrounding neighbours don't do likewise, your work will be largely in vain.

Be aware that rats can bite/nibble through PVC piping so accommodation which uses pvc piping under the kitchen sink and outwards of the property might want to be avoided.

best
basil

[malu]

[Ozindo]

Having a phobia can be debilitating - my sympathies.
Having experienced life in Australia and Indonesia, I must admit to some concern about your plight. You say you left Australia because of the cockroaches. From my experience, the problem there is not as severe as it is in Indonesia.
The climate is hot and humid - very humid. More, the process of things like rubbish removal is not the same as in Australia. Cockroaches have a good life here.
Yes, we can put in place strategies to limit their impact on our lives, but we cannot eliminate them.
If your phobia is severe then life could become difficult. Perhaps you could try hypnotherapy or some other form of treatment to support you in developing strategies to cope with the problem? This could have the added benefit of becoming a lifestyle change that will benefit you for life.
Indonesia's too much of an adventure to miss it because of a few pesky bugs!
Best of luck. Hope all goes well.

[darkcity]

thanks for the responses as well as sympathy. Some responses made my skin crawl. I think I will try hypnotherapy!

[Fishy]

I used to live on the 22nd floor of an apartment block and I only had a cockroach once in that whole year, I think it must have hitched a ride on my bag or something. If you lived in an apartment and you did have a cockroach in your apartment, I'm sure you could get a security guard to take it away from you. Out and about it is hard to avoid them. Especially if you go to restaurants, cafes etc outside on ground level.

It would be a shame if they put you off coming here, this is a wonderful place!

[Aristede]