And I’m still learning…

I love travelling and spending a significant period of time in another country. There’s something about it that just humbles you and makes you realise exactly what matters and doesn’t matter in life. I always come back to Australia with a renewed sense of urgency and passion to be doing something to make some sort of positive impact on the world. There’s a part of me that gets comfortable at home; that makes me consider other things to do and makes me talk myself into thinking that I’ll enjoy doing something other than development.

I get a little too comfortable but then I come to Indonesia; to Cambodia, to India; and realise that there is nothing else in this world that I want to do to. There’s nothing in this world that will make me want to get up every day to go to work; nothing in this world that will make me as happy or challenged or as pushed than working in this sector. I don’t see myself ever being truly happy with a career unless I’m working with education and women’s rights. I can’t imagine doing anything else because there is nothing else for me. I am capable of doing something; I know I can do something and surprisingly enough, I’m good at it and that’s all that matters.

But there’s a few things I’ve learnt over the last three years; living and working in both Cambodia and Indonesia; things I’ve learnt about life; about the world but most importantly, what I learnt about myself.

It’s okay to make mistakes; it’s not okay to not grow from them.

Sometime’s working overseas hasn’t been good. Sometimes you are 18 and new to the development world and you get so excited about helping that you forget why you came. But then you see it and you feel sick because it’s just wrong and you don’t understand the inequalities in the world. But then you go to Indonesia a few years later; a little more wiser, more aware and you know yourself enough to know where you can make a small impact in a short amount of time. That’s what it’s about; making small impacts over a period of time. No one can change the world, it’s impossible, but I sure can learn from past experiences and make sure that I don’t make the same mistakes again. Small impacts over a period of time- I can do that.

Distance doesn’t make your problems disappear.

Just because you leave your life for a few months doesn’t mean it still won’t be there when you come back. Distance and time away doesn’t magically make every single one of your problems disappear and most times you do more harm than good. Sometimes you have to learn that the hard way; that pushing your problems aside wherever you are, home or away, is never the answer. I know now that the best thing to do is to face issues head on when they arise and work it out from there.

Be patient with yourself when you do come back home.

The flip side to that is that you are a totally different person then to who you were when you left home. We are forever changing but when you leave everything behind, you change in a different way. But friends and family don’t see this or feel this change in you and so it is hard to re-adjust back to what your old life was when sometimes you don’t relate to aspects of it anymore. Sometimes you grasp onto things, sometimes you let things go and most times, its actually a struggle to combine your old life to who you feel you are now and what you want. The only thing I’ve learnt is to know myself, be patient with myself and stay true to myself and know that things will fall into place.

Time is the shortest and longest thing we have.

We always say we are running out of time or we didn’t have time to do this or that, but when you think about it, time is the longest thing we do have. It’s how we use our time that determines its quality. There is no such thing as having no time to do the things that you want to do; or no time to see people. You make time for the things you care about and the people you love even if that means prioritising over something else. Don’t get too caught up in the world of work and school to forget to make time for the people who are there for you and the things you enjoy to do. It doesn’t mean anything if you are too focused on things to miss out on experiencing your life or that of your family and friends. We are consumed by time and constraints but time is also consumed and decided by us. Know this and use time wisely; for its the shortest and longest thing we have.

Learn what is important and know that life is a never-ending learning experience.

There are things that matter; there are things that don’t.

Learn what’s important in life and what isn’t. Learn what relationships are good for you and what ones aren’t. Learn what really makes you get up in the morning and learn what makes you happy and then do it every day. Life isn’t about the people who weren’t there, about the mistakes we made or the chances we didn’t take. The sun rises every day no matter how shit the day was before and guess what, you will to. Life is about learning things so we can continue growing, changing and evolving as we age. Life is about figuring out what matters and what doesn’t matter and focusing on the things that are important. Life is about living and learning and most importantly, loving; that’s whats important.

There’s no place like home and the people that are there.

There’s no place like home because it is home. There is no place like coming back to a place where there is only love, happiness and joy. Where things are easy because you have support around you, where you have friends and where you have your life. Travelling is incredible and if it was free, you probably wouldn’t see me. But I would always find my way back home because there is nothing like home and the feelings it brings me.

Life is what you make it.

*cue Hannah Montana song* No one lives life waiting for it to come knocking. Opportunities, people and experiences don’t come to you if you don’t reach out first. Offer yourself to the world and see what it offers back. Half the things that have most shaped my life have been from me taking action and chasing experiences in whatever form they come. There’s no point in talking about things but never actually doing them. So go out there, take a chance and do it because what have you got to lose?

People are so scared of being hurt and showing vulnerability but I think it should be embraced.

People these days are so scared to open up; to show emotion and vulnerability. We have been taught to be strong; to always be strong and that if we aren’t strong, it means we are showing weakness. Weakness that could potentially cause us to hurt so we build up these walls and always tell people “we’re fine” and don’t actually tell the other what we are actually feeling. We try to be strong even if that means secluding ourselves and shutting ourselves off from opportunities because we are scared of getting hurt. Life is scary, opportunities are scary and yes, people are going to hurt you. But guess what, you’ll hurt people too because it’s something we all can’t control and it’s a part of life.

And really, if we stripped back the stigma that we have to be strong all the time, that we have to have our shit together and that certain things should be kept to ourselves and not talked about, I think that we would all understand each other better. We could see that we aren’t that different; our problems are similar, we both feel things that can hurt us or make us happy, we are all scared of something and we are all nervous of taking risks; after all, we are all human. But I think if we opened ourselves up to each other we could also be a little more kind to each other, a little more understanding and a little less judgemental. Vulnerability and feeling hurt makes us all human – we shouldn’t shy away from that.

Be kind.

If I died tomorrow, how would people describe me and what would they say? What legacy would I leave behind?

And as boring as this may sound to some people, I think I would like to be known as kind. I think kindness is a simple concept that is rare to see; I know I often have to think if people’s kindness towards me is coming from a genuine place or not. And I hope that people see the genuine in my kindness. And sure, maybe its more fun to be known as the person who can hold her liquor, or to be known for the girl that is always having a good time, but I don’t think being genuinely kind is boring. I think kindness is truth, honesty and communication in all of its forms. 

Kindness has many levels. My mum once told me something that has stuck with me for years; “Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.” It’s as I get older that I understand more how sometimes kindness can come off as something that isn’t kind. Sometimes being kind means telling it like it is. Sometimes being kind is to say something that hurts you to say it. Sometimes being kind is saying things people don’t want to hear and but you do because you are being kind. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

I also think kindness goes a long way; I often remember people by their kindness and how nice they were to me and I hope they remember me for the same. And I guess the world has enough hate and judgement as it is, there’s no need to add to it.

There’s nothing wrong with doing you.

There’s nothing wrong with taking time to do you. Whether that’s choosing to stay single, cutting down on alcohol, taking up a gym class when you know all your friends would think thats funny; there’s no problem with that.

I always say that I have no problem with anyone’s decisions as long as they aren’t hurting themselves or others. There is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing you and doing what you have to do FOR you because you know that is whats best. Because at the end of the day, our bodies are the only constant thing we will have throughout our lives; we as a person are the one constant thing. So why not take the time to get to know yourself; find out what you like, what you don’t; what you want and what you don’t want. Make friends with yourself and love yourself and do this by being by yourself to see who you are. Life is too short to not be doing you, to not being putting your health and happiness first and to not be happy with yourself. At the end of the day, you are the only person with the power to change your life; so start by just doing you and see what you learn. 

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But hey, what do I really know right? I’m only 21 and I haven’t even experienced life or what the world has to offer so who am I to tell you what I’ve learnt? But that’s okay, as I said, life is a learning experience and I can’t wait to learn more and embrace everything it has to offer. And maybe in 1, 2 or even five years from now I might not agree with what I wrote above but that’s okay. I can’t wait to grow, learn and form more of my own ideas about the world!

Sate-ing in Jogja

Hey hey!!

I know it’s been awhile but after my adventure last weekend and the days I spent sick this week, I think I can be forgiven for being late!

Bright and early last Saturday morning I hopped on the first flight to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jog-jakarta) to meet up with one of my friends from Australia! I originally was planning on going to Bandung for the weekend as I had never been there before but after hearing Rob was going to be in town, I knew that was the place to be and the place to now fly to!

Yogyakarta is near Mt. Merapi – and if you don’t know where that is, you obviously haven’t read my last post so you should get on that! Jogja is my favourite place in Indonesia and is one of those rare places where I think, if I left Australia, this would be one of two places I’d move to.

Borobudur, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Saturday morning was a real struggle to get out of bed; it was so early that I even beat the call of prayer! My plane was on time and I arrived 10 minutes early which was unexpected! I got in a cab and headed straight to ViaVia to meet up with Rob for the start of a jam packed weekend – starting with a morning cooking class.

ViaVia

ViaVia

Rob had organised a 9am cooking class with ViaVia who also offer a whole range of other things. They are a cafe located in a few places around the world and promote transparency between local culture and people. They do this by using fresh, local produce for all meals on their extensive menu; including their bakery! ViaVia also has a fair-trade shop adjoined to the cafe where they sell organic and recycled materials created by local artists. They also have a hostel and organise cultural tours around Yogyakarta and East Java – really the place has everything!

When we arrived to the meeting point for the class, Made, our teacher, gave us free reign to choose whatever we wanted to make. Being the great man he is, Rob let me choose Sate to which Made informed us we wouldn’t be making just one but two different versions of it! Winning!

We met up with a Polish woman who was also doing the class and we headed straight to the markets to pick up fresh produce. The market wasn’t as busy as I expected it to be but it was definitely a hub for all things food! From meat to chicken’s feet to frog; from fresh fruit and vegetables to rice and crackers; it truly had everything you would ever need and certainly more than what we needed! Made weaved us in and out of lanes of food to the stalls she got all our produce from and within 45 minutes, we were back ready to make some Indonesian food!

After walking back to the class; we had a refreshing cold coffee with sweet cake before getting straight into making Kari Sayuran; the first dish of the day!

Kari Sayuran is a vegetable curry dish which we made very mild. First, we cut all the vegetables while someone ground the small ingredients together with the mortar and pestle! Once everything was cut and ground, including the 5 chillies, we put them all in a pot on the stove to simmer away! While they sautéed, we got to making the first of the two sates – the spicy, sweet and soy sate; a Balinese specialty!

Stirring the coconut cream

Vegetable Curry

Vegetable Curry

There weren’t a lot of steps to making this Sate; as with before, we ground the chillies with coriander seeds, garlic and bay leaves. We also cut and filleted the chicken into small pieces that we eventually used to make into kebab sticks. The first half of the chicken was marinated by the spicy sate and the second half was marinated by the peanut sate.

The peanut sate that we made was the general sate people get when they order it. This consisted with few ingredients but, surprisingly, there no peanuts in the marinade! Once they were made into skewers, we placed all the sate kebabs in the fridge and focused on the Tempe!

Tempe is fermented soybeans and tastes absolutely amazing (apparently we legally cannot make it in Australia but I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Indonesia!). It takes three days for the soybeans to finish the fermentation stage in which we can then use it to cook. Tempe is high in protein and is used in a lot of vegetarian dishes in Indonesia.

Tempe

Frying the Tempe

We cut the Tempe up into thick slices and seasoned it with salt and pepper before we fried them off! Rob had mentioned this dish called Kering Tempe that Made was willing to show us how to make. Kering Tempe is Tempe cut into thin strips; fried off until they are crunchy and coated in this caramelized chilli sauce with peanuts. Kering Tempe is normally served as a side or an appetizer before a meal and so you wouldn’t just eat it as it is. We also made purple rice which is white rice cooked with 2 tablespoons of black rice that when heated up; creates a purple colour! Pretty cool!

After the Tempe, we cooked the Sate sticks, heated up crushed peanuts and coconut cream on the stove and combined crushed chillies with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) to use as dipping sauce for the Spicy Sate – the kecap manis takes the taste of the chill marinate and creates a chilli, sweet and soy combination that is really smooth on the palate.

After moving everything to the table, we had to eat all the food but it was so good we didn’t have too much trouble getting through it all!

The rice tasted like normal rice even though it was a purple colour (Made was telling us to make yellow rice you just add coriander seeds and turmeric when cooking it) and the vegetable curry was really nice. The Tempe was a little bland but I did expect that as it was just fried Tempe and the Kering Tempe wasn’t really my cup of tea (it wasn’t spicy but it just wasn’t something I would eat often).

But what I made myself wait for was the two sates, and boy, did they not disappoint.

So let me start with the Peanut Sate.

As expected; I knew the peanut sate was very much like every other sate and for that; it was nothing special. It could have had a little more kick to it but it was still nice.

Spice: As I said, there could have been a bit more spice   – 3.5

Texture: It was thick and crunchy due to the crushed peanuts but that made it not smooth – 4

Overall Flavour: Tasted very much like peanuts but wasn’t too creamy  – 3.5

Overall food for money:  As it was apart of a cooking class, which I paid Rp160,000 (approx $16AUD) for I can’t really judge. However, the price for the same Sate was on the menu for Rp44,000. The Sate came with kerupuk, rice and a small salad and for that I’m going to give it a rating of– 3.0

Total: 7/10

Which is one of the top Sate dishes that I have found in West Java (special mention for the Sate at Wilujeng Sumping in Ancol, North Jakarta for being pretty amazing as well).

But I will mention that I think I found the best Sate even though it wasn’t on the menu at ViaVia – and probably would be found more authentically in Bali!

The chilli, sweet and soy Sate!

Chilli, Sweet and Soy Sate

This Sate was the BEST thing I’d ever tasted and that took me by surprise as I thought I would favour the peanut sate more. It was actually the RIGHT spice for me and had a kick but not so much that I was reaching for milk! I could say that that’s because the chef knows her spice levels but I’m not trying to be biased here! It was spicy but that sweet and soy sauce that was drizzled over the top took edge off of the spice and created this amazing balance of all these flavours. 

Spice: As I said, the right kind of spice for the right kind of Sate   – 5

Texture: The chicken was marinated in chilli marinate but the sauce was made from kecap manis and finely chopped chillies. Because of this, it wasn’t thick or creamy but it was sweet and spicy and all things nice-y – 4

Overall Flavour: I could eat this everyday and never grow bored of it. Screw Java, maybe I should be looking for the best Sate in Bali!  – 5

Overall food for money:  This is tricky as it was not apart of the menu but as Made was from Bali, she showed us her recipe. Because of that, I will automatically give this a general half rating  – 2.5

Total: 8.25/10

Which means that Made’s family recipe for her Sate is the best in Java so far. If anyone wants to travel, or will travel to Yogyakarta one day, I strongly recommend taking Made’s cooking class at ViaVia as it is worth the money and the experience of creating real Indonesian food! She also gives you tips and insights into the best ways to cook these back in your home country and suggests substitutes for herbs and spices that may not be readily available there!

After the cooking class; and feeling quite full; Rob and I headed out to Rumah Impian; an organisation that works with getting street children off the streets and into education. Rob had previously done work there last year and is still affiliated with the organisation so he took me out to see the kids and to show me what he does there (and I’m sure it was a tactic to get me to reconsider my decision to stay and work in Australia). 

Playing Cricket with Icha

After Rumah Impian, Rob showed me his favourite warung guy before we both got ready to go out for dinner with a group of people that Rob knew!

After an amazing nights sleep, I eventually got out of bed the next day to start my day! There were a few requests for clothes from my family and I knew that Jogja was probably going to be my best bet at finding them at a cheaper price – Jakarta is so expensive – so I headed down to Jl. Malioboro and the markets surrounding the main street. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up finding exactly what the siblings wanted but I did end up finding these super funky pants that I knew my mum would love (even though I will certainly be borrowing them from time to time!). After shopping, and being over the hot weather and the crowds of people, I went back to my room to wash up in the beautiful outdoor bamboo shower and then checked out before heading back out into the sun.

I was on the 7pm flight back to Jakarta that night and so I had a lot of time to kill before I left! I got into the back of a becak to head back to Viavia to meet up with Rob for lunch and to eat CapCay (some much needed veggies!). After lunch and shopping at the fair-trade store next door, I said my final bye-byes to Rob as he headed home for a much-needed sleep – how jealous I was!

Rob and I

I stayed at ViaVia and wrote a little bit of this post and had a much needed Skype session with the parents! I normally call home every Sunday (still trying to make Sunday nights family night) but the last two weeks I feel like between working and travelling every weekend, its always been a quick 5 minute call of “Hey, I’m alive, I’m okay, I love you too,” on whatever day I can call at a decent time for them! Who knew that juggling a 4 hour time difference could be so hard sometimes?!

After finally killing time, I went to the airport an hour before I was set to depart but my plane was delayed; as I expected it to be. I eventually got home around 10:30pm and had a shower, caught up with the newest episode of The Vampire Diaries (oh my god) and headed off to bed for some much needed sleep!

I can tell you that Monday morning was hard to get out of bed but there were no regrets! It was probably the best weekend I’ve had since I’ve been here; being in Jogja and also being with such a good friend like Rob made the weekend just easy and relaxing!

However, this weekend I was suppose to fly to Lombok but I have had to cancel that as I have been sick this week. That really, really sucked because I normally would just travel as I hate missing out on opportunities, especially ones I have already paid for, but sometimes I have to think about whats best and that would be to stay in Jakarta so I can be my best for the last week of my internship!

I cannot believe that next week is my last week of work- I feel like I’ve been here for months and months, although I will admit, I’m also looking forward to coming home (especially right now when all I want is my bed). I’m also excited to see what my last week brings me at work and then probably more excited to start my own travel plans after the internship. I don’t think I’ll make it back to Lombok this time, but there’s always next time! And hey, while I’m over in the West, I might as well explore the West!

Until next time,

Teesh

Hey hey its Sate-Day #4

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Can you believe its been a week already?

Since last Saturday, I’ve been a busy, little bumblebee jetting around to Bogor (in case you didn’t read my last post then you probably should) and starting my internship this past Monday. I can’t believe how fast my week has gone and how fast this whole experience is flying by. I am nearly over the hill and on the home stretch again and I can’t believe that I’ll be thinking of how soon I’m heading home as opposed to how long I’ve been here.

But I will mention this week hasn’t been all smooth sailing. My hump day was Thursday, and to all the Aussies reading, yes I did work on Thursday unlike you lucky buggers who got to party all day! But I streamed the Hot 100 (had to have my own little celebration) and slowly watched the clock go down song by song until I could go home to sleep! The night before was the first time I watched TV since I got here! Daisy and I managed to watch a re-run of the Serena Williams game and now we are totally keen to watch the mens and womens finals over the weekend! Daisy’s pretty awesome guys and it’s gotten to the point where we can kind of just understand what the other wants to do just by looking at them! Which meant Thursday night’s dinner consisted of heading to the French bakery around the corner so we could buy some almond and chocolate croissants and raspberry and custard eclairs! We ate them (well I ate the eclair) while watching the end of the Federer and Wawrinka game!  Thank god for my gym class on Monday or I’m going to have to be rolled into work every day next week!

Rutgers WPF Indonesia

Work culture is certainly different than Australia. There’s no walking in, saying hi and heading straight to your desk to work all day. I’m normally one of the first to get in and I’ll head straight to my desk (yes I have my own desk I get to decorate!). The others start coming in just before 10am (unless the director is there) and they talk and joke around and some don’t start working until 11am, which makes sense as to why everyone stays late everyday. The work day is 9am-5pm but I am always the first to leave at 5pm (sometimes I feel like I should be staying too). But I’m still working in Australia time where I try and do as much as I can everyday so I can move onto the next thing as soon as possible! That didn’t really work well this week when I finished everything I was suppose to do by Wednesday morning! This first week has been a little slow as the office has been in and out of meetings and conferences all week so I’m excited to get really into it on Monday. But hey, at least the last two days have been great learning what everyone does and what programs they are affiliated with!

The one thing I do love though is that when it is a few of us in the office, everyone is singing! Normally I don’t know what the songs are called or I’ve never heard them before because they are Indonesian songs! But you can bet that every time that happens, someone will come to my desk and type in the song on YouTube saying that I need to learn it so that we can sing it at karaoke together! I think I have 4 songs to learn already!

I should also mention that at my work we have an ‘office boy’ who you can tell him whatever food you would like for lunch and he will order it and get it for you. It’s great because if I’m in the mood for Mie Goreng or Gado-Gado or even Sate, then he will get it and I’ll enjoy it! Unfortunately, it did prove to have a bad side when I had REALLY good sate on Tuesday for lunch but didn’t even know where he ordered it from. And before you think, ‘well why didn’t you ask?’ I did but trying to describe and understand where a warung on a 3km long road is, isn’t the easiest thing! I should just Go-Food it next time!

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So into the hey hey part cause I know you guys just want to hear about this sate that you’ll never get to eat, right?

On Wednesday, my program officers organised dinner at Rumah Makan Sulawesi, located on Jl. Panglima Polim! Sulawesi is the furtherest island to the North of Indonesia and is known for its seafood because it’s a great spot to dive and see the marine-life. The restaurant was one where you could pick out your fish to eat from their selection of live fish out the front! I love fish but eating it and then picking it out knowing that the one out the front is now the one in front of you are two different things. So instead of eating fish, I got some Sate Ayam with rice and played it safe!

 

The plate come with 10 kebab sticks for 6,500Rp (or AUD$0.65). If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t go back there for the chicken but the sate was just nice. It wasn’t over-powering or mouth-watering, and it tasted like plenty of the other sate’s you could get, so there wasn’t anything special about it (I keep thinking about last week’s sate!).  But still, it had the spice it lacked last week and it was still nice to eat (although I will tell you I’m over rice).

Spice: There was a little kick but it wasn’t overpowering  – 2.5

Texture: It wasn’t thick or creamy, but was a little too thin and sloppy for my liking – 1

Overall Flavour: The flavour was nice but it wasn’t over-powering. You could taste the peanuts though – 3.5

Overall food for money: Price? What price? 6,500 for sate is nothing and is the cheapest I’ve ever paid. However, I feel like the price did reflect the meal; the chicken wasn’t all that nice and there wasn’t a lot of sate sauce which was disappointing.   – 3.5

Total: 5.25/10

So that seems to be an average right? Average total for an average meal; nothing too good but nothing too bad! But I’m SURE there is much better sate than this and I can do better for next week! Just gotta find that sate before I’m on a plane home!

So until next Saturday,

Hey hey, I’m out!

Teesh xx

 

 

Spotlight on JKT

Indonesia = 263 million people.

Java = 160 million people.

Special Capital Region of Jakarta = 12 million people.

12 million people and now me.

What a city to get lost in… literally.

In case you failed Indonesian class or didn’t take geometry, Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia located on the island of Java. Indonesia is situated between the Indian and Pacific Oceans to the North of Australia. Consisting of over 9000 Islands; for which over 900 of these are permanently inhabitant, Indonesia is the largest island country in the world and houses the most populous city in the whole of South East Asia.

In case you STILL don’t know where Indonesia is, let me break this down for you in a simple way. For some this may come as a surprise but I would like to OFFICIALLY let you know that Bali is not a country but is apart of Indonesia. And that Java is the island located to the WEST of Bali and that all those islands in that area make up, yes you’re right, Indonesia. WOW right? Who would have thought that there was more to Indonesia than just… Bali.

But moving on from the sarcasm…

The Special Capital Region of Jakarta is a HUGE city with an average of 15, 174 people per square kilometre! The island of Java itself holds more than 57% of Indonesia’s population. So when you think about both of those statistics, it should come with no surprise that Jakarta is classified as the second most densely populated city after Tokyo (according to New Geography’s 2016 Report) and in 2015, was classified as the city with the WORST traffic in the world.  However, Jakarta is expanding at a rapid rate; much faster than its neighbouring cities of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Tokyo, and at the current growth rate, Jakarta has the potential to become the most densely populated city in the world within the next couple of decades. Real mind blown this time!

So here I am in Jakarta with a population of over 12 million people in its province and I am trying to soak in the culture and experience the studying and working life of Indonesia. Over the last two weeks (can you believe I’ve been here for this long already) I’ve started to gain an understanding of what is the norm for Indonesian youth. Malls, for instance, are THE place where you hang out after school and there is no shortage of malls in Indonesia.

The malls I’m talking about are not street malls or shopping centres like in Australia; but malls at least 5 stories high, and that’s usually not including the under-ground and basement levels! They have everything you could ever want and that’s why no one is ever bored after school!

Before coming here, I knew malls were the place to hang out after school but knowing something and then actually experiencing it are two different things and I can now say that there will always be a mall in walking distance to wherever you are. And with that, there will never be a shortage of food or clothes close by!

Grand Indonesia

Plaza Semanggi

But the one thing that I did not know is about Indonesia’s weird fascination with cheese. If you order anything sweet, most times it will come with cheese on top! So order a banana split? Comes with grated cheese. Order a Toblerone Crepe? They put cheese in it. Order pancakes? Can’t forgot that cheese! Oh and why get chocolate wafers when you can get cheese flavoured wafers and biscuits?

I actually ordered a Toblerone crepe last week and in my naivety, completely missed out on the section where it said ‘TOBLERONE CHEESE CREPE‘ because I was too excited over just being able to eat a Toblerone crepe! You can imagine my hesitance when I got it and saw that it had cheese both on it and in it. The flavours kind of went together but the cheese tasted like that cheese you can get in whipped cream cans in America (which is totally artificial and not real) so it was definitely off-putting.  You could also definitely taste the cheese, the Toblerone and the crepe but I personally don’t think they went well together.

This whole concept is absurd because I just don’t understand how cheese works together with sweet flavours! To me, the only thing close enough to anything sweet with cheese is Cheesecake but that certainly isn’t the kind of cheese I’m talking about! Unfortunately, I don’t think this whole sweet/cheese food culture is something that I will explore further because I doubt I’m going to go home and start putting cheese on my ice-cream!

So cheese; maybe its the hidden staple food of Indonesia?

Toblerone Cheese Crepe

Apart from malls and cheese, every Sunday morning in Jakarta is Car-Free Sunday.

The Indonesian government introduced this initiative in 2002 to reduce pollution and allow Indonesians a chance to walk on the road and not become roadkill!

Between the hours of 6am- 11am, no cars are allowed on two of the major roads in Central Jakarta; Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thramin (the only exception are buses which have their own lane). The roads close between Ratu Plaza and The National Monument which is just over 7km long. During this time, thousands of Indonesians flock from all over the city to walk on the main streets of Jakarta.

On my first Sunday in Jakarta, I was excited to see this in action so I left with two friends bright and early and walked on the road to The National Monument.

The National Monument

Along the way, people were riding bikes and jogging, kids were kicking the soccer ball to each other and there was a stage with group exercises. Stalls were set up along the side of the road and storm troopers and superheroes littered the street. Human right activists and groups set up stalls to raise awareness for their cause and police were close by so that no trouble would occur. All in all, Sunday morning seemed like a festival itself.

However, by 11am, the street was quickly filled with cars and motorbikes eager to use the road again and you couldn’t even imagine that an hour before, there was nothing but people on the roads!

Sunday Morning

Monday Morning

Car Free Sunday is a great concept that I think should be explored in many other places in the world as a way of reducing pollution caused by cars and traffic. In Jakarta, Car-Free Sunday gives me an opportunity to explore the city and allows me to soak up the culture, but more importantly, be apart of the culture!

The work and study culture in Indonesia is certainly different to what I am use to back home but different doesn’t always mean bad. What I love most about spending significant time in one country is that you are able to be apart of the culture and live in the culture as a person, not a tourist. I only have a few days left of studying here and I honestly think I’m going to miss university life in Indonesia. It’s still a thrill to go to the canteen at lunch and to head up to level 14 because even though the room is ‘a bit chilly on the willy’ (as I say everyday cause their AC is pretty fierce), the view is amazing and everything is light and airy!

But all good things must come to end and Monday sparks the start of the next adventure! But before I start that, I’ve organised a little weekend trip away so Friday night after my language exam I’ll be heading South to do a weekend of exploring! As soon as I started planning this weekend away, I wished my best friend was with me because I knew that she would have loved it as much as I’m going to. But alas, I will just have to love it twice as much for her. Indonesia 2019 perhaps? (or not, lets go to Tokyo babe? Okay, thats a no… What about Iceland? Or Morocco? Spain? Wait, I know what you’re going to say “Let’s just get past this one first!” Sorry, you know I get a little too excited and ahead of myself!)

Sampai waktu lain,

Teesh xx

Ps. Your little fun fact of the day!

The first contact between Australia and Indonesia happened around the 17th-18th Century (long before the first fleet arrived in 1787).  The people of Makassar in South Sulawesi used to come down to Darwin where they would collect and process ‘trepang’ (sea cucumbers). While they did so, Indigenous Australians would allow them access to the sea so that they could trade tobacco, metal, cloth, rice and gin between each other. So in actual fact, Indonesia and Australia have had a long history and I guess you could even say that the people of Makassar were one of the first people to find and trade with Australia!

Mind blown!