First impressions

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Hello all,

I hope everything is going well back in the States. I am a little bit more than a week into my orientation in Bandung, East Java. Bandung is a large city a couple of hours south of Jakarta. It is a bit polluted, but the weather is fantastic because we are up in the mountains.

We drove through Jakarta to get to Bandung, and I as struck by the sharp contrast between Jakarta and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Driving through Jakarta, there seemed to be miles upon miles of sky scrapers. The highway had overpasses and underpasses, and a lot of the cars we were driving with were shiny and new. From what I remember of Dar es Salaam, there was a small cluster of tall buildings in the downtown area. While some of the roads were paved, I do not remember anything resembling our freeway system in the States. Many of the cars looked like they might die at any minute. As such, Jakarta has put a lot of what I saw in Dar es Salaam in context; while observations such as these say little about the situations of the majority of Indonesians and Tanzanians, I was naively expecting Jakarta bear more of an initial resemblance to Dar es Salaam.

The most striking similarity was the driving - traffic rules appeared to be as optional in Jakarta as they were in Dar es Salaam 😊

In Bandung, my hotel room looks out onto a sea of red tile roofs. When there is not too much haze, I can see mountains in the distance. The road below me is busy, but with more motor bikes than cars. When I leave the hotel, crossing the street is treacherous - there are no real breaks in traffic, so you have to stick your hand out (signaling stop), and proceed cautiously.

Out on the street, there are stalls selling fruit, flowers, and snacks. At night, little eateries, warems, pop up everywhere. They place a plastic table out on the side walk, put up a tarp between traffic and the table, and set-up propane stoves. I ate my first warem last night. I had rice with grilled tofu and tempeh; it was delicious!

Well, that is all for now. Other than a trip I made to a volcano this past weekend, most of my time has been occupied by orientation and medical school applications.

Selamat Pagi!

Kerry

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Comments

[Kaitlin Foley]

Ride
Yikes! What a ride. Can't wait to hear about the people.