Initial Reactions

After travelling thousands of miles, countless hours, experiencing Doha, Qatar, and chocking on my in-flight dinner. I find myself on the other side of the globe in Jakarta, Indonesia. I thought that I knew what I was getting myself into... I've traveled in Europe, seen poverty in Mexico, and told myself relentlessly that no matter how much I read or "knew" what Jakarta would be that I would need to adjust dramatically. That being said, I have never been anywhere in my life that remotely functions as this city does.

Although I have only been in Jakarta for a handful of perpetually sweating days I have come to identify several uniquely Jakartan characteristics of the city from my early observations. From the moment you leave the airport there are people everywhere and in large numbers... The streets are packed with motorcycles and bajajs (motorized minicab), each  seemingly fitting three to four if not more people on them. When walking in a mall, which every mall seems to be a "supermall", there are employees everywhere usually in groups of four or five, socializing as there are not nearly enough customers to warrant the amount of employees. Even as I'm shuttled to school, vans (smaller than a standard van) are designed to fit as many as possible into them, which from my early experiences is about 11-12 people. Space is at a premium and thus far it has been in short supply.

After you get past the initial shock of getting off an airplane and realizing that you've reached your destination, you come to a new discovery. The SMELL!!! To say that Jakarta is a city of smells would be a serious understatement. How would I describe it... Like a slap in the face of sewage, pollution, and concrete as there are innumerable construction sites. And if you are lucky enough to catch a strong breeze while strolling down the street, you may feel a small sense of relief from the heat and humidity, which while enjoyable is completely negated by the slap-in-the-face "stench" emitted from one of the many aqueducts that align the streets. As the "stench" fades, you realize that not all of the smells in this mammoth city are bad. Closing your eyes and following your nose will take you to one of the seemingly endless restaurants, huts, and carts that provide all of the southeastern Asian dishes your heart desires: satay, nasi goreng (fried rice), ikan goreng (fried fish), jus alpukat (avocado juice), and many other meals that I cannot identify yet let alone name.

Once you acknowledge the sheer amount of people and the overwhelming smells, you begin to hear a language as foreign as the country itself. The swiftness and subtlety of the speech makes it difficult to comprehend the first few days, but through interactions with locals you begin to pick out the common words and phrases. With just a few days spent at my oceanside bar I have made fast friends who are all too happy to humor a bule (respectful term for a white person) and teach me the local bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language). This discovery has led to my initial admiration of Indonesians, who are quick to smile, take pleasure in regular laughter (at both you and themselves), and use their varying amounts of English to tell a lighthearted joke. From the outset it seems that their carefree mentally leads to a happiness that is truly rare in the United States. For this reason alone I could not be more excited to be here!