Greenship NC Launch:
Jakarta - Week 6:
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Szoboszupdate ;)
Great week =)
- Thursday was the Greenship NC (New Construction) launch. An exciting event with great lunch (especially the asparagus soup). Everyone had obviously worked very hard to get to this point, and that could be seen by the bloodshot eyes surrounding me. With a great turnout and a speech from Von Kok Leong - the Malaysian GBC president - it was definitely a success. Congratulations on all your hard work everyone!
- Thursday night we celebrated Michael's 25th birthday at our favourite spot in Kemang, called Bremer. A great turnout with all sorts of people we have met including some new faces from CouchSurfing! Thanks for coming out everyone.
- Friday was recovery time. Movies and sleep = awesome.
- Saturday Pak Tiyok was kind enough to pick us up and drive us around downtown Jakarta. We walked around Monas, took a tour of the large mosque called Masjid Istiqlal and the catholic church Kathedral. He took us to his childhood ice cream store near the presidential palace called Ragusa where we had a banana split followed by satee (chicken grilled on a skewer with peanut sauce) and fish paste. Interesting combination.
- At night I went to Plaza Semangi to join a CouchSurfing gathering. The theme was Language Swap and it was nice to meet all kinds of new people and hear their stories.
- Sunday Laszlo was sick, once again :P All morning my stomach was burning from the previous night of Padang food. I was determined to get over it because it was an exciting day! I met up with Alfi at Kota where the old dutch city is located. We saw the Batavia festival (Batavia was the name of Jakarta during Dutch rule) and saw two museums. I had a crazy tour guide for one of them, who was really obsessed with thinking Toronto was a country, that I was a "diamond heart" and that Karma apparently works in my favour. It was interesting hearing his stories, but he was definitely a little crazy :P
- Alfi took me on a tour of the China town here in Jakarta... I really enjoyed seeing the traditional narrow streets where all the fruits and fish are sold and prepared. It felt like I was back in Hong Kong. She taught me about the red envelopes used in China and we also checked out the massive pirated DVD stores. I bought my sister a new camera charger. (Which later blew up in my room and electrocuted my arm pretty bad. Sorry Erika, you still don't have a charger.. haha)
- We then went to the Jakarta International Fair which was CRAZY busy. You know you are in Asia when you can barely move. It seemed like I was the only Bule so that felt a little funny too haha. It was a really neat event with lots of vendors and attractions. We had a great time there =)
- After getting Alfi home, I got pretty lost :P After finally finding Monas (National Monument) and taking a couple of pictures I got home in one piece =)
- Thursday was the Greenship NC (New Construction) launch. An exciting event with great lunch (especially the asparagus soup). Everyone had obviously worked very hard to get to this point, and that could be seen by the bloodshot eyes surrounding me. With a great turnout and a speech from Von Kok Leong - the Malaysian GBC president - it was definitely a success. Congratulations on all your hard work everyone!
- Thursday night we celebrated Michael's 25th birthday at our favourite spot in Kemang, called Bremer. A great turnout with all sorts of people we have met including some new faces from CouchSurfing! Thanks for coming out everyone.
- Friday was recovery time. Movies and sleep = awesome.
- Saturday Pak Tiyok was kind enough to pick us up and drive us around downtown Jakarta. We walked around Monas, took a tour of the large mosque called Masjid Istiqlal and the catholic church Kathedral. He took us to his childhood ice cream store near the presidential palace called Ragusa where we had a banana split followed by satee (chicken grilled on a skewer with peanut sauce) and fish paste. Interesting combination.
- At night I went to Plaza Semangi to join a CouchSurfing gathering. The theme was Language Swap and it was nice to meet all kinds of new people and hear their stories.
- Sunday Laszlo was sick, once again :P All morning my stomach was burning from the previous night of Padang food. I was determined to get over it because it was an exciting day! I met up with Alfi at Kota where the old dutch city is located. We saw the Batavia festival (Batavia was the name of Jakarta during Dutch rule) and saw two museums. I had a crazy tour guide for one of them, who was really obsessed with thinking Toronto was a country, that I was a "diamond heart" and that Karma apparently works in my favour. It was interesting hearing his stories, but he was definitely a little crazy :P
- Alfi took me on a tour of the China town here in Jakarta... I really enjoyed seeing the traditional narrow streets where all the fruits and fish are sold and prepared. It felt like I was back in Hong Kong. She taught me about the red envelopes used in China and we also checked out the massive pirated DVD stores. I bought my sister a new camera charger. (Which later blew up in my room and electrocuted my arm pretty bad. Sorry Erika, you still don't have a charger.. haha)
- We then went to the Jakarta International Fair which was CRAZY busy. You know you are in Asia when you can barely move. It seemed like I was the only Bule so that felt a little funny too haha. It was a really neat event with lots of vendors and attractions. We had a great time there =)
- After getting Alfi home, I got pretty lost :P After finally finding Monas (National Monument) and taking a couple of pictures I got home in one piece =)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sumatra Wedding
The story of the weekend:
One of our colleagues Dian invited us to her friend's wedding in Lampung, Sumatra. The sequence of events were as follows:
0700 Friday - wake up, go to work
1700 - leave work, eat food
1900 - throw a wild pool party at the apartment
2200 - get in car
0300 Saturday - hop on ferry to Sumatra Island
0500 - reach Lampung
0700 - reach hotel, ****SLEEP****
1000 - go to wedding
1300 - go shopping and hit up beach
1800 - get back on ferry
2000 - arrive on Java Island
2300 - arrive at home
So definitely a jam packed adventure. Some notes on the trip...
- The ferry didn't have many places to sit. People were sleeping all over the floor. Refer to pictures.
- The wedding was beautiful. I've obviously never seen something like it before, and the traditional dress was really great to see. We took pictures with the bride and groom and ate some great food. The bride was Dian's friend from college.
- The beach was relaxing, after a long trip with little sleep, it was nice to just relax in the water and swim around. Green coconuts and "Internet" (Indomie Telur Kornet, a delicious fried noodle meal with egg) were served under a bamboo beach shelter.
- One part of the beach was said to be cursed, as a lady had committed suicide off the rocks. The same stretch of beach is owned by the 4th richest business person in Indonesia, Bakrie, who owns a mining firm among others.
- Crispy chocolate covered bananas are the token oleh-oleh (gifts) of Lampung *yum!*
- On the ferry ride back, dolphins were riding off the ships momentum and jumping around in front of the ship. I've seen dolphins in Seaworld Orlando Florida before, but never in the wild, where they belong.
- Sleep is overrated.
Thanks Dian!
One of our colleagues Dian invited us to her friend's wedding in Lampung, Sumatra. The sequence of events were as follows:
0700 Friday - wake up, go to work
1700 - leave work, eat food
1900 - throw a wild pool party at the apartment
2200 - get in car
0300 Saturday - hop on ferry to Sumatra Island
0500 - reach Lampung
0700 - reach hotel, ****SLEEP****
1000 - go to wedding
1300 - go shopping and hit up beach
1800 - get back on ferry
2000 - arrive on Java Island
2300 - arrive at home
So definitely a jam packed adventure. Some notes on the trip...
- The ferry didn't have many places to sit. People were sleeping all over the floor. Refer to pictures.
- The wedding was beautiful. I've obviously never seen something like it before, and the traditional dress was really great to see. We took pictures with the bride and groom and ate some great food. The bride was Dian's friend from college.
- The beach was relaxing, after a long trip with little sleep, it was nice to just relax in the water and swim around. Green coconuts and "Internet" (Indomie Telur Kornet, a delicious fried noodle meal with egg) were served under a bamboo beach shelter.
- One part of the beach was said to be cursed, as a lady had committed suicide off the rocks. The same stretch of beach is owned by the 4th richest business person in Indonesia, Bakrie, who owns a mining firm among others.
- Crispy chocolate covered bananas are the token oleh-oleh (gifts) of Lampung *yum!*
- On the ferry ride back, dolphins were riding off the ships momentum and jumping around in front of the ship. I've seen dolphins in Seaworld Orlando Florida before, but never in the wild, where they belong.
- Sleep is overrated.
Thanks Dian!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Top of the World
What a weekend!
Laszlo had another great adventure. On Friday morning we attended a provincial government meeting and after 2 hours of macet time, we finally got back to the office and were ready for our trip.
I think I’m going to write this one in point form as well, since there is so much to say.
- Our first destination was Ibu Naning’s mountain side villa. With a much cooler climate, and a breathtaking view it was probably the most relaxed I’ve felt in Indonesia.
- In the morning we hiked up a mountain to a tea plantation. A combination of the cool breeze, morning sun and crisp air really makes you think you’re in a different world compared to Jakarta. The local tea pickers were fascinated by my blinding pale skin and were excited to answer some of my questions.
- I visited a rice plantation and also saw gigantic spiders.
- People can destroy entire mountains. On the way to our next destination we drove through a town surrounding a mountain. Over the years the town’s economy has been driven by mining the mountain. They use the stone for marble. It was a horrifying sight, the mountain was literally stripped. The magnitude of destruction was jaw dropping.
- We arrived in Bandung and I was pleased to see a clean city, with a cool climate and great streetscapes. Labelled as “Paris van Java” it is known for its shopping and dining. Met up with some of Dee’s friends, learned the Sundanese pronunciation of ‘tviterr’ ‘paceboohk’ ‘yahoh’ ‘coppee’ and ‘faktury otlet’. We drove up to the peak of Bandung and had some drinks at a really swanky place with great music overlooking the city.
- Sunday morning Anggi, Dee, Michael and I climbed a mountain and felt boiling sulphurous water, and shopped on the edge of a volcano crater.
- We hit up the shopping scene once more and went out for more fancy meals and drinks. Life is good. (I’ll continue to say that...)
- Monday I had a meeting with the dean of the school of architecture at ITB. (One of the 3 most prestigious universities in Indonesia.) I asked about students’ awareness of sustainability and how it is incorporated into the curriculum. This was to commence research for one of my main projects for GBCI. Learned some interesting things, proposed a collaboration recommendation and received a great response.
- Saw a shirt that said “Vancouver – United States” which initiated a 30 minute conversation with the sales associates. Kinda broke my heart.
- Met with a professor at ITB and learned about some interesting research projects including passive shading technologies, hybrid ventilation systems and “rare earth material” voltage potential. I got along well with the professor and he showed me his lab, wind tunnel and building models. He also showed me his pending patent post-disaster modular design block for constructing durable buildings in a short period of time.
- Met with some students and asked them many of the same questions I presented to the dean and the professor for my research. They turned out to be really great people so we went out for lunch together.
- After one last shopping excursion and some decent Hungarian goulash and maple syrup pancakes it was time to return to Jakarta.
Laszlo had another great adventure. On Friday morning we attended a provincial government meeting and after 2 hours of macet time, we finally got back to the office and were ready for our trip.
I think I’m going to write this one in point form as well, since there is so much to say.
- Our first destination was Ibu Naning’s mountain side villa. With a much cooler climate, and a breathtaking view it was probably the most relaxed I’ve felt in Indonesia.
- In the morning we hiked up a mountain to a tea plantation. A combination of the cool breeze, morning sun and crisp air really makes you think you’re in a different world compared to Jakarta. The local tea pickers were fascinated by my blinding pale skin and were excited to answer some of my questions.
- I visited a rice plantation and also saw gigantic spiders.
- People can destroy entire mountains. On the way to our next destination we drove through a town surrounding a mountain. Over the years the town’s economy has been driven by mining the mountain. They use the stone for marble. It was a horrifying sight, the mountain was literally stripped. The magnitude of destruction was jaw dropping.
- We arrived in Bandung and I was pleased to see a clean city, with a cool climate and great streetscapes. Labelled as “Paris van Java” it is known for its shopping and dining. Met up with some of Dee’s friends, learned the Sundanese pronunciation of ‘tviterr’ ‘paceboohk’ ‘yahoh’ ‘coppee’ and ‘faktury otlet’. We drove up to the peak of Bandung and had some drinks at a really swanky place with great music overlooking the city.
- Sunday morning Anggi, Dee, Michael and I climbed a mountain and felt boiling sulphurous water, and shopped on the edge of a volcano crater.
- We hit up the shopping scene once more and went out for more fancy meals and drinks. Life is good. (I’ll continue to say that...)
- Monday I had a meeting with the dean of the school of architecture at ITB. (One of the 3 most prestigious universities in Indonesia.) I asked about students’ awareness of sustainability and how it is incorporated into the curriculum. This was to commence research for one of my main projects for GBCI. Learned some interesting things, proposed a collaboration recommendation and received a great response.
- Saw a shirt that said “Vancouver – United States” which initiated a 30 minute conversation with the sales associates. Kinda broke my heart.
- Met with a professor at ITB and learned about some interesting research projects including passive shading technologies, hybrid ventilation systems and “rare earth material” voltage potential. I got along well with the professor and he showed me his lab, wind tunnel and building models. He also showed me his pending patent post-disaster modular design block for constructing durable buildings in a short period of time.
- Met with some students and asked them many of the same questions I presented to the dean and the professor for my research. They turned out to be really great people so we went out for lunch together.
- After one last shopping excursion and some decent Hungarian goulash and maple syrup pancakes it was time to return to Jakarta.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Beach Reach
Life is good. I have moved in to the apartment and I’m really happy about it. It feels good to sleep in and not be woken up by Adzan (Islamic call to prayer) every morning at 4:30am. It’s also a good feeling to have air conditioning in my room. Just everything about the move is very convenient.
On Thursday I had a really awesome night. Went out with my friend Alfi and had dinner at a place called Sushi Tei. It was real good. And the floor was glass, I felt like I would fall through. Then we just hung out, and walked across one of the main streets here, which was terrifying. We walked to the statue in the middle of the street. Normally I don’t think the public is encouraged to walk all over the grass, and I made that assumption based on the 15 police men around me. Laszlo doesn’t normally understand boundaries. So we lay there on the grass for a long stretch of the night. The only person to approach us was a young girl selling flowers.
I got home at around 2am, and had to wake up at 4:30am as our friend Fajar was coming to pick us up and take us to a paradise beach. There is no reason for me to explain this trip bit by bit, since I’ve posted the pictures and pictures speak louder than words. General summary, it was amazing, we went swimming, snorkelling, went to an isolated island, drove to the southern side of Java, was soaked by the Indian Ocean crashing into high cliffs and then fought the waves of the ocean on a secluded beach. The villages are never ending, and the roads are terrifying. I am thankful that our 1989 Toyota Corolla made it through, even with a few hiccups along the way.
Anyways, just have a look at the pictures. This weekend I’m off to Bandung. We can chat when I’m back. Take care!
On Thursday I had a really awesome night. Went out with my friend Alfi and had dinner at a place called Sushi Tei. It was real good. And the floor was glass, I felt like I would fall through. Then we just hung out, and walked across one of the main streets here, which was terrifying. We walked to the statue in the middle of the street. Normally I don’t think the public is encouraged to walk all over the grass, and I made that assumption based on the 15 police men around me. Laszlo doesn’t normally understand boundaries. So we lay there on the grass for a long stretch of the night. The only person to approach us was a young girl selling flowers.
I got home at around 2am, and had to wake up at 4:30am as our friend Fajar was coming to pick us up and take us to a paradise beach. There is no reason for me to explain this trip bit by bit, since I’ve posted the pictures and pictures speak louder than words. General summary, it was amazing, we went swimming, snorkelling, went to an isolated island, drove to the southern side of Java, was soaked by the Indian Ocean crashing into high cliffs and then fought the waves of the ocean on a secluded beach. The villages are never ending, and the roads are terrifying. I am thankful that our 1989 Toyota Corolla made it through, even with a few hiccups along the way.
Anyways, just have a look at the pictures. This weekend I’m off to Bandung. We can chat when I’m back. Take care!
Thank You
Thank You. Sorry. Please. My pleasure.
Terima Kasih. Maaf. Tolong. Sama-Sama.
Terms I have come to know very well. Thats all this short entry is about.
I am overwhelmed at how polite Indonesians are.
They say sorry for everything!
I thought Canadians were too apologetic, I was wrong. Indonesians take it to a whole new level.
A good example.
Yesterday I was asked to help write a letter to the Malaysian Green Building Council. I used the same professional tone I would use in any letter I've written. Very direct, straightforward and to the point. The Indonesian approach is much different. It contains a lot more, I would appreciate if, thank you so much for, please if you could, I am grateful for, you are very kind to...etc.
Very different from most letters you'll come across in North American culture.
Thats all.
Terima Kasih. Maaf. Tolong. Sama-Sama.
Terms I have come to know very well. Thats all this short entry is about.
I am overwhelmed at how polite Indonesians are.
They say sorry for everything!
I thought Canadians were too apologetic, I was wrong. Indonesians take it to a whole new level.
A good example.
Yesterday I was asked to help write a letter to the Malaysian Green Building Council. I used the same professional tone I would use in any letter I've written. Very direct, straightforward and to the point. The Indonesian approach is much different. It contains a lot more, I would appreciate if, thank you so much for, please if you could, I am grateful for, you are very kind to...etc.
Very different from most letters you'll come across in North American culture.
Thats all.
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