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Published: September 12th 2009
And the Jakarta story starts again! I arrived in Jakarta last week Wednesday (2/09) on the evening of the 7.3 scale earthquake which shook Western Java. Not sure yet if Im happy that I was safely in the air while it happened or not. I THINK I would have loved to feel what its like! 😉 But I guess I will have to wait for the next one! hhh!
Lucy, my new boss, was waiting for me at the airport with her husband. It was very nice to be received in fluent english! She did some grocery shopping for me and she made sure that my apartment was freshly cleaned! What a nice welcome!
The next day she picked me up to go visit the studio. It was very funny to walk in and realise I know both other instructors at the studio! Last time when I was in JKT (Jan-Feb '09) for the Pilates course I met both of them already at Vitruvian studio. So that was a great start! I also was told that the next day at 9am I would be teaching a group class already! So I pretty much hit the ground running..
Speaking about running. I joined the Jakarta Free Spirit Running club. They run at.... uhhuumm.. 5am on sunday's, but they cover some good distance with an average 15-20km run. They seem to be a nice group. All expats of course! So we look like a bunch of crazy white people running along the back alley of JKT at a very inhumanly hour..
I also joined the Hash Harriers, which is a running group in a completely different category as the one mentioned above! The beer seems to come as a priority to running as they venture out of the city for some off-road running. But it was a great way to see the area! Getting back home from a run like that is a different story though...
But not all time is spent running! 😉 Lots of time is spent walking though! And even more time spent sweating! OMG this place is humid!
I have to walk to and from the busway, and Im in a need of a towel every single time. I have NO idea how these locals can walk around in long jeans, a shirt and even a jacket! Im also not too sure what
the expected dress code is for non-asians but it seems that whatever I wear I attract massive attention.. Sometimes to a fair level of annoyance..
To bring up an anecdote: I have a lovely pool inside my complex and last weekend I was very happy to try it out after my run! Dressed in sarong, bikini and tshirt I make my way to the pool area. When walking up to the sunbeds the whole crowd just turns around to stare.... hmmmm... I decide to sit down and just wait for excitement the settle down before undressing.. Or maybe not...since stares seem to continue, if not worsen... Liz ended up jumping into the pool with tshirt and all as the seemed to be the safest way to avoid excessive uproar at the pool at Sudirman Park... RIGHT......
I have also been trying to meet up with some of my friends from last time. Unfortunately Jakarta is so huge that we all stay such a long trip away from each other that it requires almost a day trip to make it worth while meeting up.. So not to convenient for a quick coffee.. Luckily my close friend Nina stays walking
distance from my apartment!
So, so far just trying to settle down & get organised.. And wrap my mind around actually 'living in Jakarta'.
I hope to be able to go on some weekend trips soon, and show you some more of the lovely country of Indonesia!
The end of Ramadan has a 4-day public holiday (next week) which sounds great! But rumours are that traffic out of JKT is insane those days and that airplane ticket prices have almost tripled... So I think I will have to make peace with staying in JKT for now...
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Hanneke
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good luck!
Hey Liz, Goed te horen dat je het naar je zin hebt daar; hoewel alles waarschijnlijk nog wel unreal zal zijn. Ben heel benieuwd om je verhalen te blijven horen. Veel succes en keep in touch! Groetjes, Hanneke