Waroeng Indo Authentic Indonesian Food, Cinere

Here's a little-known gem in the Cinere area: Waroeng Indo, located across from Cinere Mall. My mom goes there all the time and she took me there yesterday after church. At first I was skeptical and was more attracted by the smokes and smells coming out from the many tents of street vendors lining up the restaurant's front. Various wonderful food like Sate Kambing (Lamb Satay), Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice), seafood, Sup Betawi (Batavia Soup), Sup Buntut (Oxtail Soup), Bakso (Meatball Soup) and various fried food. But I knew I didn't have a chance with my mom next to me so.... onward to Waroeng Indo.

Inside, the atmosphere is modest, but very clean. As usual, they have more than enough workers there so service was very fast, and courteous. We ordered Tahu Pong (Tofu that is hollow on the inside), Nasi Goreng Special, Ayam Penyit (Chicken Penyit) and Nasi Begana Tegal (Special rice combo from.... Tegal? province).

Much to my delight, the food came out super fast. It was 8pm, so I definitely appreciated them. And to my double delight, all of the food were super GOOD! We started with the Tahu Pong. This is a type of tofu that is "hollow" inside - not dense, unlike regular tofu where the body is dense throughout; Tahu Pong has "bubbles" inside and so it is fluffy, light and airy. And since it's deep fried, very crispy.

The tofu itself is flash fried so while the outside shell is crispy, the inside is moist and very juicy. You dip the tofu into the sweet soy sauce-vinegar-chili-garlic dipping sauce provided and pop it in your mouth. The result was this wonderful, explosive flavors of sweet, tangy, garlicky and crispness and airiness all rolled into one. Just the perfect combination! This is easily my favorite dish there.


Tahu Pong. Image quality sucks! I need my camera back...

Another highlight is the Ayam Penyit. This is a type of chicken covered in spicy red sambal (chili) served with various veggies. I think they're meant to be eaten together, but I ate the chicken with white rice, and it seems to go very well together. The bright, furious red chili did look intimidating, but it actually tasted sweet-ish. Not that hot, at least for me. But it did wonderfully complement the yellow-spiced fried chicken, which was marinated with some kind of yellow flavored sauce. The exact ingredient I don't know, but the server said that part of the formula consists of tamarind, coconut milk, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and cloves. I'm sure there are a lot more in there, but the chicken is fall-off-the-bones goodness and really went well together with the chili.


Ayam Penyit

The Nasi Tegal is very good as well, but pretty mediocre to me. It's a typical Indonesian complete rice package consisting of Rendang (beef curry, marinated with coconut milk and spices), Tempe goreng, shrimp crackers, cripsy Ikan Teri (anchovy), Telur Balado (egg with spicy chili sauce), chili and topped with basil leaves.


Nasi Begana Tegal

The Nasi Goreng, while at first I looked at it with an indifferent attitude, proved to be very good indeed. In fact, I daresay that it was probably one of the best fried rice I've ever eaten. There were tiny bits of unknown ingredients throughout the rice that crunches when you bite into them, releasing explosive salty flavors that tasted "umami" - savory.

Prices range from Rp. 7000 to Rp. 90,000. We spent Rp. 78,000 for the four dishes plus drinks.

Waroeng Indo caters to the local people and is 100% halal. They do deliveries up to 5 miles (Pondok Indah, but minimum of 7 orders) and accept party catering orders (Tumpeng).


Waroeng Indo storefront. That's my mom posing. I couldn't find a good way to shoo her out of the picture, so she's now immortalized forever as PR for the restaurant.

Waroeng Indo
Ruko Blok A
Jl. Cinere Raya No. 1B
(Across from Cinere Mall)
Ph. (021) 754-5817

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Expensive Shipment To Indonesia...

I spent the whole day long haggling with the people at the shipping company, trying to solve my current debacle with my shipment of personal effects from the US. It has proven to be a costly shipment indeed. The total amounts to be around $800 (Rp. 8 million) for 1 cbm (cubic meter) or only 7 boxes. That is pretty costly in my dictionary. Why did it costs so much? Well, turns out there are many hidden fees which no one bothered to tell me before.

Here is the item by item breakdown of the charges, I hope this will one day help other people who will be making the same move as me.

FROM THE US TO JAKARTA:
I used DeltaMax Freight System.

1. $85.00 per cbm
2. $50.00 export handling
3. $35.00 AES - Export declaration
4. Total of $170
   

If you want them to pick up your items (I didn't, I dropped them off at their Inglewood office), then there's extra charges as followed:
$65.00 pick-up 1 pallet at 100 lbs in Los Angeles area
$55.00 Lift Gate
$35.00 ( Heat treat stamp if needed ** )

Required documentation:

1. Official letter from the Indonesian Consulate stating that shipment of personal effects is for student completing study (Surat Keterangan Selesai Sekolah) - this alone required me to go to the consulate and fill in incredibly bureaucratic forms - don't even start with me.
2. Passport
3. Commercial Invoice (they'll do this for you)
4. Packing List (write down how many pallets and what's inside - write "personal effects")
   

Deltamax Freight is actually pretty professional, easy to deal with and helpful. I highly recommend that you check them out AND THEN find out what the total cost is DOOR TO DOOR. When I say TO DOOR that means the total cost for shipping from your door in LA to your door in Jakarta. That is the code in the shipping industry.

Shipment is (somewhat) pretty fast: I dropped the boxes on May 18, they shipped it on May 26, and it arrived on June 27. So it's about a month.

There is another shipping company that virtually all Indonesians in LA use to ship their personal belongings called IS Express. I hear from a lot of people that their service is bad, with many items missing and many shipments being severely late or never reach their destinations. They're also infamous for having bad customer service, which translates to awful post-sales customer service. I kind of experienced that problem even before PRE-sales: I tried getting a quote, but no one ever gets back to me after multiple emails, phone calls, etc. So I thought "screw it." On the other hand, people say that they usually pay around 6 mil rupiah for everything, including shipping from LA. That's 2 mil cheaper than what I'm paying now.

When I called Combi, they only gave me the quote for their shipping charges, as above. But they weren't able to give me the quote for the agent in Jakarta, because it's an entirely different animal. Read on.

IN JAKARTA:
The agent that Deltamax Freight works with and recommends is called PT. (P.T. is Indonesian equivalent to L.L.C.) Combi Logistics Indonesia, located in Jl. Petojo. Hmmm.... what can I say about this company? I think in retrospect we both could've communicated more effectively. I could've dug more info out of them and find out that I shouldn't proceed before uttering the magic word "TO DOOR"; while they could've done their due diligence and presented me with all the facts before telling me to come in to their office, such as, "This is pending the final number from the port" or "You better wait until we find out how much the guys at the port, which is a totally separate entity from us, will charge you."

The problem here lies with the fact that I have to deal with 3 different agencies: Combi Logistics, then the guys at the port which are PT. Asia Connexindo Internasional (Unloading of the goods from the ship, and delivery to the Container Yard, collectively called as D/O or Delivery Order) and PT. Pelangi Bahari Anugerahtama (who then sorts people's stuff, collects my stuff, then warehouses it).

Here is the detailed breakdowns.

COMBI LOGISTICS' QUOTE:

1. Customs clearance Rp. 600.000
2. "PIB" System Fee (Import Notification Fee) Rp. 200.000
3. Trucking door to door delivery from the port to my house plus unloading Rp. 700.000
4. * Additional customs fee for "Red Lane" (jalur merah) Rp. 400.000
5. * D/O charges as billed from co-loader (Asia Connexindo)
6. * Mechanical fee and warehousing as billed from PT. Pelangi.
7. Total paid Rp. 1,900,000 ($190)
   

*Note that the last three items are the killers here. "Red Lane" customs is for contraband items found in my shipment - which is a Johnnie Walker Swing whiskey, a gift from my bros in LA. Totally unnecessary!!! If I knew they didn't allow this I totally would've drank it there. I could've saved Rp. 400,000 right there.

Note how they didn't specify how much of the two D/O and Mechanical Fee. They didn't give the numbers until the very last minute, when they're almost done taking out my stuff. When pressed why, they told me that they didn't know until they were there. Uh... what? What they really should've done was, try to find out these charges before telling me to come into the office and drop all the documents. This IMHO I think is their biggest flaw to date, and one that I can't easily dismiss. I feel that I've been misled.

Here are the charges for Asia Connexindo and Pelangi.

Asia Connexindo (D/O Charges)

1. DFS Charges $50
2. Agency Charges $35
3. Destination D/O $35
4. PU Charges $20
5. Administration $20
6. Handling Charges $10
7. Tax 10% $17
8. Total $187 (Yes, in dollars)
   

Here's the funny thing, if I were to unload a container load, the charge is actually cheaper: $145. Since I unloaded less than container load, the charge is higher.

PT. Pelangi (Mechanical Fee and Warehousing)

1. Receiving Rp. 277,050
2. Delivery Rp. 277,050
3. Mechanic Charges Rp. 277,050
4. Surcharges Rp. 277,050
5. Port Fee (??) Rp. 277,050
6. Handling Fee Rp. 277,050
7. Extra Movement Fee Rp. 277,050
8. Stripping Rp. 277,050
9. Trucking to Warehouse Rp. 277,050
10. Sticker Fee Rp. 10,000
11. Surveyor Rp. 90,000
12. Administration Rp. 60,000
13. Total Rp. 2,653,450
    

NOTE THAT THEY ARE CHARGING ME THE MINIMUM CHARGE OF 3 CBM AS OPPOSED TO ONLY 1 CBM!! When asked why, they calmly replied that this is the way it works, and there's nothing they or I can do. And by that time, it really was too late for me to do anything. So make sure you inquire about this.

So the total that I'm paying thus far is:

1. Deltamax $170 (Rp. 1.7 mil)
2. Combi Rp. 1.9 mil
3. Asia Connexindo $187 (Rp. 1.87 mil)
4. Pelangi Rp. 2.6 mil
5. Total Rp. 8.07 mil or $800 for 1 cbm or 7 boxes.

Pretty steep IMHO. I've had friends ship their entire apartment and the charge was $1200 or Rp. 12 mil.

So the moral of the story is, if you're moving back to Indo, make sure you negotiate following on the points above. Everything is negotiable, and I actually negotiated my way out of the full charge, which would've gone all the way up to 9 mil.

Points to look out for:

1. Don't ship alcohol, or any bootleg DVDs or CDs. They'll confiscate it and charge you the "Red Lane" customs which is about $40 or Rp. 400,000. Note that you don't end up getting the items!!!
   
2. Watch out for mechanical fee and D/O. Always ask about them and negotiate.
   
3. Ask whether the agency at the port will charge you the standard minimum 3 cbm (cubic meter) or not. If they are, you might as well add more stuff to your shipment.
   

On the positive side, the guy I dealt with at Combi Logistics actually provided very thorough follow up, satisfyingly feeding me with updates all the way. He was also courteous enough to negotiate with me on behalf of the other two agencies. If you're interested in using them, approach them with caution and don't start anything before you get the full, "to door" cost.

Deltamax Freight System
10834 S. La Cienega Blvd
Inglewood CA. 90304
Tel# 310-3381411
Fax# 310-3381425
Cell# 626-2786246
E-mail : Jackson@deltamax.com
Web Site: www.deltamax.com
Deltamax is C-TPAT certified member

PT. Combi Logistics Indonesia
Jl. Petojo VIJ-I No. 36
Jakarta 10150
PH. 62 21 380 5560
FX. 62 21 3483 2030

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2009 Indonesian Presidential Election, Take II

Some 176 millions Indonesians went in throngs to the voting booths today (yesterday as of this blog is written) to elect their President and Vice Presidents for the 2009 - 2014 service. My experience has been remarkably positive and simple. My mom, our maid and myself went out from the house at 11:30 and walked about half a block to the makeshift voting booth. Voting booths were set up on each Local Neighborhood Units, referred to in Indonesian as "RT / RW." RT / RW stands for "Rukun Tetangga" (Neighborhood Association) and RW stands for "Rukun Warga" (Community Association) are two common types of organization formed by community members, acknowledged and supported by the central government. They are the lowest rank in the administration hierarchy of the Indonesian government. There are about 30 - 50 households in an RT / RW.

Technically, it is part of a village that has been assigned its own official governorship, with limited rights to take care of its own affairs. Much in the same way that the City of Los Angeles oversees the sub cities of (to name a few) Torrance, Hollywood, Manhattan Beach, Long Beach and Malibu, the City of Jakarta oversees many neighborhoods that were annexed by the city, like my neighborhood.

I don't know if the time of the day (11:30am) contributed to the short line, but we stood in line for about less than five minutes, and quickly reached the registration area. It's a three-step process: I handed in my registration paper that proved that I was a registered voter within jurisdiction of my local area , the guy gave me a number and I wait for my number to be called from the other desk. Of course, my number was called right away, and the guy gave me the official paper ballot, and directed me to the booth. There, I unfolded the ballot and there were 3 boxes, each with pictures of the Presidents and Vice Presidents inside each box, and they were numbered 1, 2 and 3.

Line going to the booth

Situation inside voting booth, pretty empty by then

This year, they want us to checkmark the picture of the candidate of my choosing using a red marker. Last year it was the puncture method, where you punch through the pictures of your candidate. Apparently, disputes have arisen with that method, with critics complaining that foul players within the Election Commission were able to double punch a ballot, thereby effectively voiding the vote (overvote); or of some cases where the voter did not entirely punch through the paper (faint punch), and foul officials simply punch through on other candidate. Other critics also point to imperfections with the ballot papers, where there were accidental holes due to printing or ripped ballots due to faulty paper design, similar to problems encountered in the 2000 US Presidential Elections with voting cards having dimples or hanging "chads." Checkmarking is supposed to alleviate these problems and signify voters' intention more clearly.

Current results from the LSI (Lembaga Survei Indonesia - Indonesia Survey Institute) Quick Count, which is the unofficial result of the vote, puts current incumbent President Yudhoyono - Vice President Boediono at 60.84% over their two rivals. Quick count results have proven to be highly reliable in the past, and if accurate, it would mean that the current incumbent would win re-election in only one round. If no single candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, or 20 percent of the vote in 17 provinces, there will be a run-off between two candidates on September 8.

http://tnp.kpu.go.id/pilpres200907/sms/static/

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Bersih Sehat Massage Center - 1.5 hr for $15

I slept at the wrong side of the bed, so today when I woke up I practically couldn't turn my head to the right. It was hella painful. I was supposed to go yoga today, but seeing my condition, I was like... nah. Instead I asked good ol' mom for a solution and she told me to go to this one massage parlor that she frequents all the time.

It's called Bersih Sehat ("Clean" and "Healthy" in Indonesian) and she claimed that they do an excellent job with minimal fee. As it turns out, it was perhaps a LITTLE too good. We came together to the parlor and my mom ordered the most "senior" masseuse who would know a thing or two about muscles and tendons.

Out came this short, pudgy, stocky middle-aged lady. She was so very nice and very courteous, but she was a monster. She meant business. Her grips were like vises and she treated me as if I was Kobe beef. Brother, was she STRONG. I couldn't believe how strong she really was. She really drove in her fingers into my muscles and it was as if she cut me open with her fingers. She performed a type of Shiatsu where she targets individual muscles and my right shoulder and neck, which were the affected areas, burned like crazy.

If you're not used to deep tissue massage, it won't be at all comfortable for the first time, especially if you have young, tender muscles. Double true if you have "frozen" muscles from cramps. But old people like my mom totally loves super hard massages, because they need the extra stimulation; their muscles are stiffer. I remember when I used to massage my mom, no matter how hard I squeezed, she was never satisfied; in fact, she asked me to double the effort. I was a little younger, but I seriously already had some serious muscle power, and it always amazed me that I can never seem to hurt her. Oftentimes she even asked me to stand on top of her lying face down and walk all over her back. Amazing.

Anyways, so the first time Nur (the masseuse's name) touched my shoulders, I felt as if a vise was clamping down hard and I couldn't breathe. My face was buried deep inside the pillow and my right shoulder felt as if it was burned by a torch, and then split open with an ice axe. I jumped up, eyes wide open, and stared at her. She was surprised at first, but she knew right away the symptoms of young, feeble bodies like mine and acted very professionally. She "toned" down her strength, but it was plenty monstrous to me.

Regardless, I spent the next 1.5 hours squirming, grunting, and screaming like a little girl. And at one point I cackled loudly like a hyena, because she started massaging my thigh, which I'm VERY ticklish on, without warning. It took a lot efforts from her part to steady me as I kept on shifting and squirming, but I mean, she KNOWS muscles and she found that I have two very large knots on each side of my shoulders, which she suspected was from weight lifting. Close. It was from two years of rock climbing, and no massages at all.

I was actually surprised that my back was very knotty. There were at least 7 large knots, most of them running along my shoulder blades. She succeeded in untangling all but two of the largest, which are on my shoulders. But by all means it was not without sacrifice on my part. It. Really. Hurt.

But her massage works like a wonder. I can now freely move around my head, and although my back is kinda sore from all the high pressure penetration, she told me it'll all go away tomorrow. She also told me to drink plenty, plenty and plenty of liquid and try to expel them all from my system, due to the toxins being released when she untangled the knots. The knots are supposed to harbor bad, old toxins. I am actually feeling a little light-headed now and relaxed and sleepy, but at the same time feeling a little nauseous, probably from the toxins now circulating in my body. My mouth also feels a bit bitter.

I really think I should make a habit of coming there at least once a month, especially when the rate is really reasonable. I paid Rp. 135,000 (about $13.50) for one and a half hour, plus Rp. 20,000 for tip. The place is sparkling clean, smells really nice, and very professional. Nur rubbed some kind of a massage oil potion consisting of herbals, mint extract, and a kind of a hot rubbing oil. It's supposed to be aromatherapeutic. At the end of the massage, she put a hot towel on my back which functioned both as a relaxer and towel to wipe off the oil.

She told me that with continued massage, the two knots on my back should go away, and my muscles should be back to their supple states. And massage is actually really good for the body as it improves blood circulation, tones your overall body and get rid of toxins. And why shouldn't I take advantage of this? The place is nice, the rates reasonable and it's here.

Bersih Sehat is a chain of massage parlors owned by Dayu Group located in Jakarta, Anyer and Bandung. It has been around since 1983. It is the only massage parlor in Indonesia that is ISO 9001 certified. They provide massage services, aromatherapies, spas, saunas and manicures and pedicures.

I went to the one in Pondok Indah:
Bersih Sehat Pondok Indah
Plaza 2 Blok B3 No. 16
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah
Jakarta Selatan 12310.
Telp. (62-21) 750.1342 - 750.1349
More info http://www.dayugroup.web.id/ina/bscabang.php?proses=1&id=20

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2009 Indonesian Presidential Election

It’s one more day until the 2009 Indonesian Presidential Election, the country’s second direct presidential election. The first direct election was in 2004, and voters yielded current incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, their first ever, directly-elected-by-the-people president, since former president Suharto.

Direct presidential election, which means that Indonesians can now directly elect their President and Vice President via vote, is a big thing in Indonesia. This is a country that had seen one president rule for 31 years, and until 1998, Indonesians has had no chance to democratically elect their Legislative Body, President and Vice President through valid, constitutional and manipulation-free direct popular vote. The former President Suharto ran virtually unopposed for re-elections, and although he ran against candidates from 2 major parties of the times, he always emerged victorious. Part of the environment that helped secure his victories was the strategy that required the appointments to the legislative body, the M.P.R., to be made official by the president. This effectively created an environment where it was easy for him to manipulate his re-election.

I’m having mixed feelings about this presidential election, but for all practical purposes, I’m totally excited to be able to exercise my first voting right in 12 years.

I feel normal again. I feel accepted. I feel I belong to something again. I feel like I’m the returning son to his father’s house. When I was in the US, I had no constitutional rights whatsoever to take any part in any American politics, and that makes me feel like an outsider. Granted, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about American politics (or for any politics for that matter) when I first got there in 1997, but thanks to George W. Bush, I can now see the value of citizenship, and I swore I would never again treat my citizenship as if it was something that I deserve.

A citizenship is your birthright, and no matter what country it is from, it’s a privilege that one must always viciously protect, and above all, appreciate. I know I sound like a preaching patriot, but having lived in a foreign country which I’ve grown fond of and eventually care so much about, and seeing it destroyed by, what I think was an unwise leader, the concept of citizenship becomes an all-important issue.

During the presidency of George W. Bush, he made one fatal move that I was furious about: Invading Iraq with the excuse of finding Weapons of Mass Destruction, which he never found to this day, and hunting down Osama Bin Laden, whose Al Qaeda organization Bush claimed to be trotting along in Iraq. Both were sordidly wrong and unproven. Al Qaeda in fact appears in Iraq precisely because of the US Forces presence there. George Tenet, then the head honcho at CIA, insisted at a personal meeting with Bush that there was no credible evidence of a connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq. He went ahead with the plan anyways. In fact, ten days after taking office in January 2001, Bush instructed his aides to look for a way to overthrow the Iraqi regime in a secret memo entitled "Plan for post-Saddam Iraq.” But just WHY the heck didn’t he concentrate on finding Osama Bin Laden first, the guy who hurt the most Americans, then venture on other things???? Until this day, the guy most responsible for the darkest day in America is still out there, scheming, planning, roaming free.

And despite the common sense that Iraq is too poor a country to continue developing its weapons program after the first Gulf War and despite bitter oppositions from the United Nations, he went ahead anyways. As it turns out, Iraq had ended its weapons program in 1991. It was like this guy was bent on invading Iraq; no matter the billions of dollars of the cost of war (shouldered by taxpayers – I was a taxpayer, curse you Bush), the loss of lives, the unnecessary destructions, the damaging image of a cowboy America in the eyes of the world, the encouragement of other rogue nations to start their own“pre-emptive strikes” (hence North Korea), Guantanamo Bay, and let’s not forget the unfortunate incident at Abu-Ghraib.

His subsequent actions and decisions were no better. Hurricane Katrina, No Child Left Behind, the economy, the Kyoto Protocol, the NSA eavesdropping program…. All bore the hallmarks of his clueless leadership. Add all that with his curious grammar.

Which was why it hurt me so much to only be able to watch as other Americans return him to power in 2004.

Caring about something and then not having the ability to do something about it is not a good feeling. Like it or not, I was living in the United States, and I was living amongst her people, and her dreams, and her ideals. I cared about what was happening around me, and I truly care about the people whom I’ve built relationships with – the same people I worked with, struggled together with, laughed together with, and inescapably, love for. Like a parent, I care about what is best for a child (in this case, the child is a….country?) and I can see that the country was on the wrong path. Like a good parent, I wanted to correct the wrong. I felt that we were in this together, and yet, I was so disconnected.

Only then did I realize the value of citizenship. It’s not a privilege; it’s a responsibility. It’s your responsibility to fight what you believe in, and to fight for your country. Fighting takes many forms; for soldiers, the line is clear cut and drawn, but for regular citizens, the real fight begins when you care about what is happening around you and the people you love. I think to me that’s a healthy system of a functioning nation.

So you can bet your tush that I’ll be lining up the voting booth come Wednesday morning. I’m excited because after 12 years, I will finally have the chance to reconnect to something bigger than my life.

To all Indonesians, make sure you exercise your God-given voting rights!

Indonesian Presidential Election 2009 is Wednesday, July 8. It will take place nationally and at various designated polling places (check with your local governments “RT / RW” for voting booth locations). The voting day has been declared as a National Holiday. More information http://mediacenter.kpu.go.id/

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Things I Notice About Indonesia Part 1

I've been here for about a month, and aside from the obvious cultural differences such as the language, the character of the people, the culture (duh) and food, there are still many small little things that bring wonder to me. For example, every night, when I'm up working on whatever it is I'm doing, I notice that every hour someone would bang on a hollow pipe (like on a metal fence or something) to notify of the time. I'm usually up very late, so when the clock hits 12 midnight, there will be 12 strikes which indicates that it's 12 am. When it's 1 am, it's one strike, two strikes for 2 am, and so forth. But it occurs without fail, night after night, hour after hour. It reminds me of old Chinese or Japanese movies where there's always someone patrolling the village at night on foot, announcing the time as he goes by either with a gong or by yelling. This is the Indonesian version of time keeping cuckoo clock, only it's done by manual labor. Many of the houses here employ private security guards 24/7, and these guys must be the ones doing it.

It amuses me to listen to that. It's a sort of community service for the entire neighborhood, and this is prevalent in all of the neighborhoods in Jakarta. I remember hearing this when I grew up in another neighborhood. Since I moved to the US, I totally forgot about this childhood memory and now everything came back to me. It amuses me not because I heard it again after so many years, but because now, in my eyes, it stands in stark contrast against the gleaming, modern Jakarta skycrapers and luxurious shopping malls.

It reminds me that the roots of this culture is very much based on a community, rural, village-like setting, and it's pretty nifty to see that some elements of it is still present in today's hectic daily pace of this metropolitan city of 8 million. I enjoy observing the duality of it.

Culture. What is culture? The Merriam-Webster dictionary define culture as "The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." But to me, the small, subtle, and nearly invisible elements that are omnipresent all over us are what truly define a culture.

It is something that you cannot touch; an intangible. But you know that it is there, and you can feel it. Sooner or later, you'll be immersed in it and it becomes your second nature. I look back at my life and I think about what I have learned about the American culture. Whatever it is, I learned it subconsciously and I can no longer pinpoint specific elements of it, precisely because I have lived in it for so long and I have learned to ignore it: It has become my second nature. But I know I have it, because as in the case with the time keeping illustration above, simple things like that are now foreign to me. It is truly a wonder how humanity works, and it never ceases to amaze me. I thank God everyday that I'm a part of it.

Of course, that bit about time keeping is not the only thing I notice here. Here are some other things that caught my attention:

• Is it just me, or are drivers here much more patient than myself? For the past month, I've seen a driver stopped dead short of a freeway entrance ramp and calmly backed up, apparently because he took the wrong ramp and was trying to get back out to the main road; countless drivers stop in the middle of the road to drop or pick passengers up (my own drivers included); and cars cutting in 3 - 4 lanes to pull over to the side / get into freeway ramps. In most cases, and I'm not joking here, people behind don't honk.The actually wait PATIENTLY until the person completes the maneuver, and then move on. And it is a thing of a wonder to me, because in the US I would've blasted any fool who even dares to think about doing any of these stunts. Jakarta is rife with honks, everyday, every hour, but when it comes to things like this, they strangely don't.
  

• Oh yeah, that brings a point: They honk and high beam when they enter or exit an intersection, apparently to warn other drivers of their coming in. It freaked me out when I first started driving, because I was opposite them and I thought I did something wrong! I slammed on the brakes, which surprised the driver behind me, and HE blasted me, which made me panic even more. I looked like a total idiot. The oncoming driver calmly made the turn and stared at me as if I was a retard. But honking when they enter and exit intersections is a very common practice here.
  

• Indonesians have very nice and detailed handwriting skills. They write oh-so-cutely and neatly, like the Japanese, and they use rulers to underline words. Everything is written in properly. They also use carbon copy sales receipts when you buy things, complete with the company's header, very detailed line-by-line item descriptions, and signature.
  

• For some reason, they all back up their cars when they park. They don't park head in; they back up into the parking space. Maybe to facilitate easy exit, but it was just funny to turn around and see the entire parking lot full of bumpers and my car was the only one with its ass out.

1. 

Perfect Backed-In Parking Example in Jakarta

• The overwhelming surplus of workers anywhere on any store, big or small. It seems like no matter where I go in this city, there are always more workers than there are shoppers. The ratio of store attendants to shopper is 3 to 1. They all jump at me from the moment I enter the store to the first time I touch an item. Not less than 2 attendants at all times surround me. "Yes, how can I help you?" "Yes, would you like to try the size?" "Yes, we have similar items. Let me show. Come, come!" I usually lost my appetite and just walked out. Call it personal attention, but I prefer TJ Maxx style of shopping where I have to chase around a sales associate for help on size but in return they left me alone to debate myself the whole day long.

• The can-do attitude of Indonesians. It's really cool to see that most people here are willing to hustle, and they're fiercely competitive to gain your business. For example, cell phone stores (these are mom-and-pop stores not affiliated with cell phone providers) will work to the end with you on any problem you might have, including unlocking foreign phones, upgrade the software, change the casing, finding the best phones and/or calling plans, or simply to have it checked and cleaned. They have no shortage of solutions or recommendations. Taxi drivers will cut 3 lanes and stop in the middle of the road just to pick you up (as opposed to taxis in LA where no one will stop for you for fear of robbery; you'd have to call them in and give a residence address). And a lot of people are willing to go the extra mile for you, such as personally delivering an item you've just purchased.

• The noticeable absence of dogs. You got cats. Lots of stray cats, everywhere.

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My 2nd Psycho Test, mixed result...

Today I took my 2nd psycho test at the Karawaci Industrial Park. I fared significantly better, although my math still suffers a tad bit. Okay, maybe a lot. But Arithmetic, simple form as it is, is something I haven't touched in 10 years, ever since I got through the last Algebra class in junior college. After that day, I've relied mostly on my cell phones to calculate the shared bills on dim sums to calculators during my university days to finally Excel sheets when I started working. I mean, hey, I lived in the US. It's not a country widely known for its fast-calculating, Abacus-toting people.

So my cognitive Math skills is lackadaisical at best. And it fared poorly when tested against 40 story mode problems (albeit simple) with a time limit of 8 mins. I was only able to finish about half of the problem! Actually, I think it may be less than half. Is this one of those tests designed to NOT be finished and overwhelm its victim to see just how persevering you really are??

I don't know - and I don't care. All I know is that I panicked (8 mins!!) and I made some pretty stupid mistakes like this:
You can buy 3 bananas for the price of Rp. 50. How much bananas can you get with Rp. 500? I wrote on the scrap paper "3 bananas = Rp. 50. Rp. 100? = 6 bananas. Rp. 200? 12 bananas. Rp. 300? 18 bananas. Rp. 400? 18 + 6 = 24. Rp. 500? 24 + 6 = 30. 30 bananas!! It's C!!!"

In retrospect, I could've calculated 500 / 50 x 3 = 30 and easily saved VALUABLE 1 friggin' minute devoted to systematically listing down the price list. Oy vey. It seems like another trip to the bookstore is in order to buy elementary school arithmetic book.

But the highlight of the test is I totally outpaced the time limit on other sections such as verbal (synonyms and antonyms, word grouping), logic, spatial intelligence and memory. Well, I said I outpaced the time limit but getting it all correct is another matter. I learned from my mistake on the previous test, where I ran out of time on every single section. This time, the time limit is even worse, with only 5 mins for 40 problems on each section. But I quickly worked down the list and just chose whatever option when I get stuck as opposed to sitting down and thinking hard, then continued down till I'm finished. Then, with about 1 or 2 mins left on the clock, I went back to the problems and tried to solve it more clearly and logically.

One thing that really bugged the heck out of me during the test was my constant sneezing. I've gotten a case of allergy since late last week, and in an enclosed area with non-circulating air like the room I was in, the allergy really started. I sneezed constantly, my eyes were watery and my nose was stuffy. It was annoying. I felt bad for the other participants as they kept on glancing at me suspiciously. They were probably wondering if I had common flu or swine flu, and I can clearly see that the thought made some participants squirmed uneasily in their seats. Oh well, more pressure to them, better chance for me to score the job. Real world competition variables, guys.