Jakarta Experience, part 2

Probably on the 5th day in Jakarta my brother took me to the ocean, north of Jakarta. When we were approaching the coast, the streets were flooded but safe enough to drive through them. According to my brother the sea level has been rising and water from the river near the coast is no longer above the sea level and it gets worse during tide. Along the coast there was a lot of construction going on to raise the street level and build taller levee. There were many huge and expensive houses along the coast. I am pretty sure they get more privilege from the government while not far away streets were flooded.

Though it was a short time in Jakarta, I was glad I had time to talk quite a bit with my brother, Pauluk. It was like going back to our childhoods where we could talk freely. As usual, we often had differences and different personalities but we always found ways to work it out. My brother had hard time socializing with others since he was a kid, I understand him better than anyone else (perhaps except his wife now). However, he has an amazing ability to memorize things visually in perfect order on the first try since he was as little as 4, as far as I remember. He has an interesting logical way of thinking, which I call fuzzy logic, which gives him an advantage in what he is doing, learning and working on all kinds of programming so quickly. But it can be confusing when you communicate with him which makes him harder to socialize. He is very honest to the bone, I can't remember the last time he lied to me. You take by the face value.

On the 2nd Sunday I went to my brother's church again, this time for two services, the morning one like the week before at 8 AM (traditional) and 5 PM (contemporary). Usually my brother and his family go to the morning service. My cousins in Serpong wanted me to stay with them that weekend but my nephew, Jastin, sang in the afternoon service so I stayed in Jakarta until Jastin finished singing. I was glad to stick around to watch him singing even though I always had a blast hanging out with my cousins in Serpong. They are like my sisters and they are super fun. I really enjoyed spending time with them and we talked a lot.

After staying two fun nights in Serpong and spent time with my cousins and their parents (fun part was with my cousins), I went on to my flight to Surabaya, East of Java. It was an interesting trip in Jakarta and Serpong. So long Jakarta, a city you hate to love ...wait ... or love to hate..... I am confused now .... :) (joking).

People who were raised and born in Jakarta are like New Yorkers, they think their city is the center of the country. In many ways I would agree, Jakarta is the center of everything, from education, culture, business, international trading, arts, wealth, entertainment, government, you name it. That's why people from all over the country converge to this city. I wish the government would do a better job in managing this precious city.