Adventures of an International Teacher

Kebayoran Baru – My Neigbourhood in Jakarta

teacherchristopher — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:22:59 +0000

It has taken me a while to feel at home in Jakarta. Living and working overseas is a transient lifestyle and while there are many benefits, there is one drawback: I am away from my home and family most of the time. When I think of home, I am reminded of my mom preparing Sunday roast dinner and every Sunday we would sit down as a family and eat and spend time with each other. I still miss home and those Sunday roast dinners but now Jakarta is where I call home.

I live in a beautiful neigborhood and it is my sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of daily life and the stresses of work. This is the street that I live on. It is beautifully tree-lined and it is one of the reasons that I love living in my neighborhood. The pollution can be bad in Jakarta, but I fool myself into thinking that because I live around so many trees, the air is cleaner in my neighborhood.

This is the entrance to the house where I live. It is similar to Melrose Place in that the house has been divided into four flats that surround a pool. I live in one of the flats upstairs. My place is small but it has lots of light and a a beautiful view of the gardens. Budi is the day guard and he watches over the house.

The gardens and pool create an ambience of tranquility from the concrete jungle of the city. Immediately as I walk through the gate I feel the stresses of the day melt away. Doesn’t it remind you of Bali?

I love going to cafes to read the papers and have a coffee or do some of my correspondence. Harvest cafe is at the end of my road. It is the “Central Perk” of my neighborhood. I love the fact that I can walk to Harvest from my house and on sidewalks. Jakarta has very few sidewalks and so to be able to walk on sidewalks is very exciting. Harvest serves the best cakes and hot chocolate.

When I need to do my grocery shopping, Ranch Market is just around the corner. It has such a great neighborhood feel to the place. The selection at the market is pretty good and I can usually buy whatever I need. However, there are times when it has been difficult to purchase Western products because of government bans and restrictions or high duties on these products. Western products can be expensive; for example, a jug of Tide is around $21, a big bag of lays chips can cost around $6, the other day I was able to buy 3 apples for almost $15 US. Food can be expensive and interestingly enough, the healthier that I want to eat, the more expensive the food is.

Most times, I’ll buy wild salmon that comes from Tasmania, Australia but it is pretty expensive as you can imagine because it is imported into the country.

This wine shop around the corner from me opened up recently and the selection is amazing. I sometimes forget that I am in Jakarta when browsing in this store. However, one look at the high prices quickly reminds me that I am living in a Muslim country which frowns upon alcohol and so in order to discourage consumption, the government taxes liquor 400 percent. The cheapest bottle of wine is $17 US. A cheap bottle of vodka could cost $80 US. One would think that given the price of alcohol, I would drink less but this isn’t the case.

One of the best perks of living overseas is being able to have a massage at such a reasonable price. Last week, during my Spring Break, I had a massage almost every day. The price – $10 US for an hour! Sometimes I come home from work and walk over to KENKO to get a massage to help release the stress of the day. This masseurs here give one of the best massages that I have ever had.

Orchids are one of my most favorite flowers. When I walk out the gate of my house, the side of the road that my house is on, is lined with flower stalls like this one. These stalls extend for about 1/2 km down the street. The variety of tropical flowers and greenery that is sold here is incredible. I purchase the orchids for my house here and they are cheap.

I have to admit though that there are times when I get frustrated with living in a developing nation, part of the reason is that things don’t always run efficiently or I miss having the freedom to move around a city because the traffic is crazy and public transportation is poor or the pollution is bad and I miss clean air or there are no parks where I can go running or biking. When I get to a point where I need a reprieve from daily life in Jakarta, I walk across the road to the Dharmwagnsa Hotel for one of their famous martinis and then, all’s right in the world. The hotel reminds me of the Muthaiga Country Club in the film Out of Africa. It is a gorgeous and an oasis of tranquility.

The architecture while modern is distinctively Indonesian. It is a contemporary interpretation of 1950s Kebayoran Baru – the name of the neighborhood that I live in. Walking into the hotel, I am swept away into another world by the distinctly Balinese decor. The design of the lobby lounge creates a level of intimacy unique to this residential luxury hotel.

I have ordered many a martini from this bar. The bar has a discrete ambiance. I enjoy meeting friends here after work or on the weekends.

So, this is my neighborhood and Indonesia has been my host country for the past couple of years. I like my home and where I live, but I do know that this is only home until the next posting.

Diplomacy is Dead!

teacherchristopher — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 02:03:57 +0000

The fax machine can never replace the need for diplomatic missions abroad! This was the sentiment of Andrew Key, Deputy Head of Mission for the British Embassy in China who gave the keynote speech at the opening of the 20th Model United Nations hosted by International School of Beijing. Key told the 900 international students and potential future diplomats in the audience, that it was personal curiosity about cultures and countries that led him to a career in the diplomatic corps. Diplomacy is not outdated! With the challenges and opportunities the world faces, diplomacy is needed more so now than ever before. The role of the diplomat is more important now than it has ever been with the increasing role of mass media in our lives and the inundation of information. The diplomat is needed to help make sense of this information in terms of foreign relations. Can a diplomat truly understand a country and its people without ever having lived there? NO! As an international teacher, I would definitely agree with Key. My perspective of who I am and others in the world has changed because of my living and working overseas. Diplomacy like education underlies the need for communication and collaboration in order to understand cultures and our relationships with others in order to build partnerships that bridge differences. This was the message of Key to the students and thus the 20th Beijing Model United Nations began with a roar of enthusiasm.

To some Model United Nations is an exercise in futility. On the contrary, it is empowering on many levels for students. It provides for personalized learning environment whereby students can inquire into areas of their interest to participate in a forum to solve problems of the world. In this process the teacher/advisor acts a coach. This is 21st century learning at its best. Over the next three days, students wrote resolutions, lobbied, debated over these with some eventually being passed that creatively addressed some of the worlds most pressing challenges. For me, one of the highlights of Model United Nations was watching the student-run General Assembly in action on the last day.

The closing ceremonies highlighted the events of the last few days and acknowledged the successes of the students. So, in the end was MUN an exercise in futility. NO! As Dag Hammarskjold once said “The UN is not just a product of do-gooders. It is harshly real. The day will come when men will see the UN and what it means clearly. Everything will be all right — you know when? When people, just people, stop thinking of the United Nations as a weird Picasso abstraction, and see it as a drawing they made themselves.” The students realized for themselves the efficacy of the UN and the role it can play in shaping our world.

Pandas and Mao and Beijing, Oh My!

teacherchristopher — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 06:42:19 +0000

欢迎到中国来 I left for Beijing, China with 10 students and a colleague for the 20th Model United Nations hosted by the International School of Beijing. The trip to the airport can take up to 2 hours but today was Nypee, the Balinese New Year, and very few cars were on the road so we were at the airport in just over 30 minutes with plenty of time to spare before the red-eye flight to Beijing. Six and half hours later and we had landed in Beijing just as the sun was rising over the capital. Lily, our guide for the day, warmly greeted us. Having had very little sleep and brazing the cold but sunny day, our tour began. Our first stop was Tiananmen Square. Most notably in the Square is The Great Hall of the People and Chairman Mao’s mausoleum. Walking around, I recalled the bravery of a young college student who, in 1989, refused to get out of the way of a tank and stood up to the military might of the Chinese army for the sake of democracy!

The next stop on the tour was the Forbidden City. Architecturally, the Imperial Palace was stunning. The reds, golds and blues that painted the buildings were vibrant in the bright China sun. Pressing against the crowds, I was able to get a glimpse of the Throne room and the throne where the emperor conducted the business of the empire and tried to imagine the pomp and circumstance of Imperial days gone by. Intrigued by the story of the Last Emperor. I wondered about how the last days of his life played out as his reign came to an end and the revolution took hold and forever changed the history of China. We left the Palace through the Imperial Gardens where the emperor would stroll with his concubines amongst trees that are now between 300 and 500 hundred years old!

Tired and hungry, we headed off to lunch for some local cuisine before the one hour and a half journey that it would take to get to the Great Wall of China. The current length of the wall is 8,851.8 km but we visited Badaling which is the most famous section of the wall. The climb was steep and the winds were cold but the journey was magical almost surreal. The stones along the pathway, worn down, marked the history of those who had traveled along the same way long ago. This was the highlight of the tour for me.

The tour ended here and after a full day of exploring Beijing and being up for almost 20 hours, I was ready for bed!

Work Hard! Play Hard!

teacherchristopher — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 06:47:15 +0000

When Friday rolled around , I was ready for the weekend! I love my job and I also love the weekends for the opportunities to play and discover what my host country has to offer! This Friday, a colleague and I decided to head out after school for a drink and try a new bar restaurant called Parc 19. There are very few places in Jakarta that can transport me to another world but Parc 19 did just that. Getting there was another story. I was able to charm the taxi company located at my school into giving us a taxi that was on standby for another patron and off we headed into the Jakarta traffic. Needless to say, we had difficulty in getting there and so we decided to get out as close as possible to our destination and walk. Dodging Jakarta traffic and inhaling the exhaust of cars, Ellen and I set out for the bar. Surprisingly, it took us only a few minutes to arrive at our destination. The building looked like it had been plucked right out of New York and planted in Kemang, Indonesia! I was ready for a drink.

Even though it was still early afternoon, one of the great things about my job is that I finish work at 2:40 p.m., the crowd at the bar was starting to gather. I loved the decor and more importantly that it was Happy Hour. Indonesia is a Muslim country and alcohol is generally forbidden in the Muslim faith. However, given that Indonesia is more liberal than most Muslim countries, alcohol is allowed but it is very expensive. Stella Artois was 2 for 1 and with some homemade chips, the evening was off to a good start. I ordered the stuffed herb chicken with pear salad for dinner. The trek to Parc 19 was worth it. Delicious food, great ambiance, and good company made for a terrific evening!

Toot, Toot! Honk, Honk! Beep, Beep!

teacherchristopher — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:36:26 +0000

Every morning I leave for school, in a taxi, around 6:30 a.m. with the hopes of beating the traffic. The route to school is the same but getting to school is always an adventure. I live in Jakarta where Bhasa Indonesian is spoken. Unfortunately, I only have minimal proficiency of the language which makes for giving directions to the driver a comedy show. However, with what I know, I am able to get myself to school. Driving up Fatmawati, the main road, the taxi driver has to dodge buses, the motorcycles and the Bajaj’s like the one in the photo!

The drive becomes even more tricky when the two way road narrows to one lane because of the vendors who have laid out their vegetables to sell along the side of the road market. By 6:30 a.m., the market is already bustling with buyers who have come to do their “grocery” for the day! Eventually though, I am able to make it through this maze to get to school in about 20 minutes to begin another day of adventure as an International teacher!

Teachers are Dream Makers!

teacherchristopher — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:40:19 +0000

I was watching an episode of Glee the other day and Mr. Schuester was entrusting the Glee Club to Finn while he was going away to Washington to advocate for the Arts in Schools. Mr. Schue was explaining to Finn that teachers are important in making the dreams of their students happen. I agree with Mr. Schue. To use a metaphor, teachers holds up a mirror to the student and reflects back to them the goodness, talents and potential that the teacher already sees. In so doing, the hope is the student will recognize their own self-worth and possibilities that lies within themselves. This is what my 11th grade English teacher, Ms. Petrone, did for me. I owe who I am today in part to her for helping me see all that was good in me. This is the power of the teacher!

via

A Time to Begin!

teacherchristopher — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:29:37 +0000

This is the digital debut of my adventures as an international teacher. While having been a teacher for while in the United States, Philippines and now Indonesia, I am just beginning to chronicle my adventures. I have always wanted to write about my teaching journey…

I have set a goal for myself to blog at least three times a week about my daily life overseas, the classroom, and random thoughts about life. Here, my purpose is to write and share my stories as an international teacher and in the process, I hope to learn more about who I am as a person, teacher and global citizen as well as understand the world and people around me. In so doing, I hope to create a two-way dialogue about life and learning! Equally as important, I hope to become a better writer while having some fun with my blog!

So I invite you to join me on my globetrotting teaching adventures.

Teacher Chris