Job Discussion Forums

[gugelhupf]

Sorry for cluttering up the forum with my own little domestic dramas, but why oh why do some people still manage to get out here to darkest Sumatra expecting to be able to live the expat lifestyle on a teacher's salary?

One of the first questions from a newly arrived colleague: "Is there anywhere round here where you can get a decent steak?". This was followed subsequently by: "Do Pizza Hut deliver out here?".

The answer to both questions is yes, as it happens, and I like an occasional treat of western food as much as the next person. However, I can't imagine why anyone would come out to the home of nasi Padang, not to mention excellent seafood and some pretty good Chinese cuisine, expecting to live on overpriced McFood for a year.

Another colleague treated a further question about whether there was an English language "What's On" type magazine for the local area with a simple but polite negative.

We're not in Kansas now, Dorothy.

[GuruStip]

We had a brilliant one last year - if anyone was poorly suited to the country, this was him.
There was an ongoing dilemma about how, no matter how loud he said the same thing over and over in English, there was no way he could get the local handyman to get his shower to be both hot and powerful. There was the daily hair-pulling over the messed up McDonalds delivery. There were the acidic outbursts of a man on the edge having serious communication issues with the front deskers. There were the secret trips to the big smoke at the weekend - none of which we ever found out about. There was the time he spent more on rent than he could possibly earn in a year, then did up the whole house and, eventually, left early and went home.
What a cafuffle. (If that's the right spelling of cafuffle. could be kerfuffle.)

[willy]

better luck than here.

the last guy arived on friday and left on monday without even a goodbye

[GuruStip]

Not even a goodbye?
tsk tsk - what terrible manners.

[Link H]

After about three years in Jakarta, eating some not-too-good rice from the canteen every day for a year, I got sick of rice and went for a few weeks where I tried to avoid it until I could stand to eat it again. Every once in a while I don't care for rice.

I went through several weeks where I craved beef. I had a small steak and it didn't satisfy, so finally my wife and I grilled out a lot of meat and I was better after that. I still crave beef occasionally.

I eat a lot of Indonesian food with an occasional nigh of spagetti, vegetable beef soup, or something along those lines. Somtimes I get American style fried fish, but with rice, which just doesn't go well with ketchup.

And what's the deal with eating fish, like Batak gold fish, with rice? Don't they realize that the bones can get lost in the rice? Bread goes so much better, but not with the arsik sauce.

[gugelhupf]

Just an update on our new arrival... I guess you can imagine the looks of amused astonishment on the faces of the locals when this guy decided to go for a jog after lunch. In Padang... at 2pm... on a very hot day.

Miraculously, he survived the ordeal only to be totally phased by a power cut - (like those don't happen out here, do they?) His lap of honour was to have a wash OVER the bak mandi leaving the water milky with soap.

[Cardinal Synn]

Give the poor guy a break! He'll learn soon enough. Mind you, it's unusual enough to see people walking, let alone jogging. He needs a fitness centre to protect himself from ridicule and heatstroke.