Construction in Indonesia

So as promised again:

A blog on what I have been seeing in terms of the construction here in Indonesia. You might skip this blog thinking its boring but there is a huge difference. One I believe because Australia regulations bring forth the Australia Standards all builders and subcontractors have to fulfill when completing construction in Australia. Looking at what is constructed in Indonesia I can tell straight away that Indonesia does not have the same standards we have here in Indonesia in terms of the construction industry. It's not a case of dodgy builders or cutting corners in Indonesia, its more the case of they have a different reality in which they construct and different standards they aim to achieve in order to fulfill client satisfaction.

First things first:

 HUGE CRACKS IN THE WALLS

Everywhere I went, every building I visited in Indonesia had cracks in it. And not the tiny ones you patch up either. Some of them span the entire length of the wall. They are locate on the inside and outside of the building. Because these buildings are Indonesia the building may experience Earth Movement from all the earth quakes that occur in the country. Cracks can form from the building being to ridged and not flowing with the movement.

Small Foundations

Another reasons I assume the cracks there is because of the soil the buildings are built on is clay. Clay expands and shrinks depending on how much moisture it's carrying. This caused the foundations to move due to pressure. Most of the buildings are made of concrete or brick depending on the financial resources available to the owner. When the building itself is all built and held solid into place, but the foundations are moving cracks will start to show in weak points of the rigid building as it tries to follow the movement of the foundations.

 Yes, this Electrical Wire is Balancing on a Thin Stick of Bamboo...

Continuing the Edge of the Path, by Hand.

So a few images here. It's to express something I noticed in Indonesia that's based within the construction industry. From what I have seen it's not hard to say that there basically isn't the technology around to support the construction standards we have here in Australia. But technology isn't always about supporting the standards of what is produced, also how efficiently and effectively it is produced within the time frame.

The second picture shows a man setting bricks and concrete by hand. Of course it's done by hand here. But not the mixing of cement. Scaffolding (a temporary structure to support people and materials throughout construction or repair of buildings) here in Australia is steel, has strong supports and needs to be checked by a scaffolder to make sure that it's not going to blow over and kill people. Indonesia on the other hand, prefers to use a cheaper alternative - bamboo. Which can be illustrated in the first picture. 

After all, what do we use to hold up electrical wires here in Australia, usually steel, or it's placed underground. Sometimes I saw that buildings didn't even have scaffolding, instead the workers were made to stand on the window sills of the building to do their construction tasks. I looked on in shock, hoping against all hope I wouldn't have to watch any of them fall. 

But amongst all this, I found something amazing and ancient. It's to do with the construction of the Ancient Buddhist temple in Jogjakata.

Beautiful!

As you can see, the walls are made from stone bricks. And there (from memory) near four levels of these walls, all individual carved stone, with an individual picture. That some how got placed in the perfect spot, to together with the other carved stones beside it tell the stories of that time. It was an amazing place, and you could just fill the era all these stones came from. But a question remained, how the hell did they know where which brick went so they all lined up in the perfect spot? I of course found my answer!

Can you see the markings?

IT"S AMAZING! The markings they match the brick next to them. Of course it's nothing new discovered, but without a (proper) guide to the temple telling us all its secrets, it was nice I could find them out by sheer curiosity and luck myself. But it's so nice seeing construction from a ancient era. It's so innovative and creative. It's breath taking to just imagine the construction site of this temple!

That's really all from me in terms of this blog. Being a construction management student of course I would look for things related to my discipline. I just wanted to share what I saw, noticed and learned.

Love you all!!

xo shez

New Year Fun!

 A Quick and Short Blog.

New Year was definitely a fun experience. Like Oz. Indonesians partake in a New Year BBQ. Either with your family or friends. But it doesn't matter. BBQs all round. Everywhere you look there is a BBQ killing some kind of animal. CHicken, Pig, Cow, Sausage (Lol)...

The only difference that I could note was that if you didn't have someone continually fanning the BBQ at all times, your meat would catch fire and you would be serving up black, charcoled meat for dinner. Extra Crispy. But it was a new way to BBQ something and I found that I liked the new flavour this technique produced. Even though you had to put alot of effort into it.

I'm sorry though. I don't have any photos of this experience. I camera went flat. And I have unfortunately been unable to get photos off other people.

One New Years Eve, some of the AIESEC Bandung peeps and EPs that have come here on an internship decided tomorrow night would be the night to go clubbing... And clubbing we did.

Off We Went, All lookin' Glam! (Yeah... I cut my Head off -.-)

When we hit the D-floor. It was on. We pulled off the sprinkler and the shopping dance move. Even chopping down trees was a hit. It was a really good night. The music was really good. And not to mention there was a stage at the club we ended up. Our group of course was the first ones on it. Dancing like no tomorrow. We learnt soon enough though that the stage was for a modelling thing they were having on the same night. 

But every time the models went off, and the house music came back on. Our group was back on the cat walk. Workin' our bodies to the beat. Even if some of our dance moves were a bit... let's just say I don't think any of us are going to be the next 'So You Think You Can Dance' Winner. But who gives a rats bottom. It's the fun you want to have. And fun we did!

It was an Awesome Night!!!

 

New Years was great! And a fanatastic Time with Everyone, meeting new people and connecting with people (through the art of dance)

Anyways HAVE TO RUN (LITERALLY!!)

Lots of Love!

Sheran xoxox

Jogja Fun

Hello Again.

Not many blog updates lately. I have only just recovered from a quick and painful bout of food poisoning. I haven't been able to get down to starbucks and upload pictures. But alas, here I am and here it comes!

I never came to Bandung, Indonesia with the intention of travelling to other parts of Indonesia. Even though when I got here it was clear that each city had it's own culture. Jakata was different from Bandung. Jogja was different from Malan. etc... etc...

But it didn't take me much to get me on my horse, travelling in a new direction. I'm a curious person. Always wanting to learn more. And knowing each city held a difference, spark my curiosity into seeing how Jogja was different to Bandung.

And let me tell you the major difference... It's Bloody Hot...

I got burnt so badly... Imagine me white... Now imagine me tomato red. It's not like I didn't put sun screen on, and I wore a bloody hat as well. But the sun went through the hat, and threw the sunscreen and burnt me anyways.

 

I was picked up around 6.30 am from my Host Family's house. It was suppose to be 5.30am however there was a hold up somewhere along the line. We were all excited to get on our merry way. Having heaps of fun. That excitement died within 5 hours of sitting in the car. The actual trip by car to Jogja took 12 hours. And by the time we got there, we ended up arriving at the most disgusting hotel you could imagine.

Leo, Beryl and Myself having some fun at a Sweet Potato Farm we Stopped At (Break from the 12 Hour Car Ride...)

Oh don't get me wrong. I've stayed in worse. There's always something good that comes out of traveling down to Southern Western Australia when your a young girl with your Father. But this hotel was just gross. Beryl had a hard time. Taking pictures. We were constantly nagging the guide to get us a better hotel. And by the second night. We had gotten one. Thank the lord. I think Beryl was about to scratch her eyes out. Don't worry, I would have filmed it and uploaded it. But unfortunately it didn't happen. Instead here are some photos of the hotel room we stayed in.

 YUM

Beryl: Omg!

Me: What is it? A Spider!!!?
Beryl: No a Lizard, it ran behind your head board.
Me: *Shrug* Oh well that's okay.
Beryl: OKAY!? It can climb up your nose!
Me: yeah.... O.o

So In Jogja there is a fair bit to do. We had to squeeze it into 1.5 days. So we were running as soon as we got out of the car and into this really lush and expensive hotel (note: heavy sarcasim used). As soon as we woke up in the morning. We were off to the first temple. As much as I would like to remember the name of the temples and palaces I visited in Jogja. I can't, so I will turn it into a little quiz. Make a comment and tell me if you can guess the name of the temples and kingdoms behind me. The kingdom is easy (there is only one kingdom in Jogja ). 

Temple 1.0: Come on Where am I?

 

 Temple 2.0: Which one is this? I know you know... ^_^

 

 Kingdom 1.0: This is an Easy one... :P

 

 The temples were fun. But I spent half the time taking pictures and looking at the temple and the other half being a model 'Bule' in other tourist pictures. School students who had come to the temples and kingdoms on study trips were coming up to me asking me questions about Australia (And sometimes Germany - I know werid...) and then asking for photos. Each time I was stopped about five camera's later I was allowed to pass again. I told this one group of students, 'Shouldn't you be taking pictures of the temple?'

They just nodded and giggled. I don't think they understood what I had said. I don't really care though. I just love the fact that right now. My beautiful face is spamming the facebook network in Indonesia. I'm most probably tagged as 'REALLY TALL WHITE GIRL' or 'BULE!'

It makes me laugh imagining it. On the last day in Jogja we all woke up really early and made our way to the closest beach near Jogja. I'm pretty sure it is called the 'Queen of the South'. 

Barath kept telling us how he had seen pictures of how it looked beautiful and stunning. A beach lover myself. I couldn't help feel excited that I wasn't actually about to swim in another countries ocean. A beach that didn't belong to Australia. Besides, Indonesian Beaches had a good wrap. Well that's what I thought...

Eww..

 

The beach is littered with rubbish. Even though there are pictures of me standing in the water, I didn't put my chest anywhere near it. Barath was brave enough to dive in. Ended up with red eyes, saying they were really burning bad. Reminded me of the when Will Ferrel pour Dino pee over his head to stay hidden from the T-Rex in the Land of the Lost. It burned his eyes so he did it again to see if it got better. It just burned worst. In saying this, Barath did dive in again to see if swimming around in the water a bit more would help his eyes get a bit more 'less burny' - no such luck. (bugger)

Now with school starting back up once again. I show the students this picture. Instant shock. I guess if I saw this rubbish on an Australian beach I would get as Angry and shocked as them. It's a good motivator to listen to what our project has to say. And they walk out of the classroom a bit more educated about what's happening around them in terms of their trash management.

But needless to say. We had a great time at the Beach. We took lots of photos. And enjoyed burning up in the early morning sun. It was only 7am and already I could feel the sun was burning me. 

Just Chillin with My Crew...

 

 It was absolutely a good time. And I enjoyed bonding with Leo, Barath and Beryl. After all, we spent 3 days together. Within those three days was a 12 hour car ride to Jogja and a 14 hour car ride back. By the end of it, we were stuffed, with a CAPITAL S... And boy do I have the evidence to show it *evil grin*

Well that is it from me in terms of my trip to Jogja. I have yet to talk about mky New Years Eve in Indonesia. So Stay Tuned for another Blog Update :D

Love you All!

xo shez

End of School (December)

You know it's true, Everything I do! I do it for yooooooouuuuuuu!!!!!


Hahahaha! I know random but Aerosmith is playing in the background atm and I couldn't help but share my current background noise with you.

Over 150 Junior High School Students in This Room! (Yes that's my white arm...)

 So as promised here is a blog on the last days of school in December and my trip into Jogja. Talking in schools is sometimes hard. You have to explain things on such a basic level sometimes you feel like your not getting the most relevant things across.

It's hard to find participation - But even the slightest movement of the Hand I'm Infront of You before you can Blink...

But as mention before our main message that Teichi, Barath and I have decided to get across is Global Impact. Environment Issues can be very daunting, especially for the young ones so Techi comes in and shows them the little things they can do as individuals to lower their impact on the environment. Use a personally owned water bottle instead of continuously buying plastic water bottles. Buy a calco bag to continuously use at the shops. I am suprised the students don't know this. 

One of the Biggest Difference Between Indo and Australia is that: Indo has a population of 230 Million... Australia, just 23 million... Add a flood and land slide here and there - thats a lot of death caused through global warming and climate change in Indonesia...

We also congratulate the kids who ride bicycles to school and walk instead of catching carbon producing transport. They are amazed to see there are things they can do to make a change, small things that are so easy to do that can actually make a difference on a big scale. And we emphasis that so much more by coming from Australia (Me), Argentina (Teichi), and India (Barath). 

Talking about the Environment Can Get a Bit Boring so We Like to Spice it Up a Bit with:

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!! - OI OI OI!!!!!!

When I get up there I ask them: Does the environment in Australia impact the environment in Indonesia? The students answer almost always no. By the time Teichi gets up there and re-explains global impact they understand that the earth, the world itself is one environment, even though we find ourselves in completely different physical surroundings that affect us, we only have one environment. 

Having a Bit of Fun (Beryl took This Photo)

 

 So without delay, the holidays approached and the classes finished. They have actually started up again this week, however being sick recently with migraines I have been unable to attend. I am excited to start up again with new classes of students - sharing our message with the young and the flexible. 

But before the New Year Began, Barath, Beryl, Me and Leo piled into a car and was driven 12 hours to Jogja... But since I'm about to leave starbucks to go watch a movie and eat some lunch I think I don't have time to write this right now so I'll leave it here. Hope you enjoyed this blog. Comment if you want or become a follower so you know when I make an update.

Miss you all!

Lots of Sheran Love!

xo shez

Half Way Through

I want to first apologise for not writing recently and keeping my blog updated with all the cool stuff that's been happening. Blogs that will be written after this one;

• New Year Fun
• Construction in Indonesia
• End of School / Off to Jogja!
• Meeting a Social Entrepreneur

I like to read the end of the book first, so I'll tell you wants recently been happening to me in this relentless land I find myself in.

Well... I saw another volcano. And this time I actually got to touch the water, or sulfur pool (or whatever you call it)

AWESOMENESSES!!!

The temperature was truly cold, but when you touch the water it's really warm. But don't stand there too long. I found that I almost couldn't breath, what I was inhaling wasn't oxygen mixed with whatever level of nitgrogen, it was sulfide or something and my lungs couldn't hack it. I was having huge coughing fits ahaha.

I also have a new host family. No I didn't get rejected or anything like that. However the family that looked after me through December have had to go to Singapore for medical reasons and as such I am with a new family. I now have two host sisters called Silvia and Dinda and a host brother who lives in Jakata during the week called Rizky. My new mother (Ibu) and father (Ayah) are really nice too and feed me EVEN MORE than my last host mother. (bloody oth - hahaha)

My Host Mother (Ibu) and Sister (Dinda), Silvia is taking the photo.

After the volcano we went off to see a lake called Patengan. It was beautiful and on top of that, I got to ride on a traditional indonesian boat. Of course it was coloured all different kinds of awful colours which ruined the traditional feel but it was nice. And the landscape was just magnificent. Indonesia has awesome rainforest, and as the boat circled the lake it burst out of the land and into the water. Like the father says in the Australian film 'The Castle' - i couldn't help but sign and say 'feel the tranquillity'...

So Pretty!

So this was my day out yesterday! I'm actually having a lot of fun here. Where ever the chance I take a snap when I meet something totally different. For instance, check this out;

I'm standing in front of the tropical fruit called Durians. Indonesian people LOVE IT!!! I think it's absolutely disgusting. It's like eating grass, except it's in a fruit. But different people have different tastes. But seriously, people here would wash themselves in this fruit if they could. On second thoughts I think there is a durian soap you can buy. ahahaha?

SO yes, having lots of fun. I will be writing those posts very soon. Maybe tomorrow. Especially my meeting with the social entrepreneur. This man has really inspired me and I am so excited to write about him!

Love you all!!!

BIG o and SLOPPY x

Shez

Wishing You a Merry Appa Ka BAR!!!

That makes no sense what so ever. But I'm in Indonesia, It's Christmas and I am totally Merry. Although I am in a culture that doesn't really celebrate Christmas, Beryl (Another Perth Exchange Participant) and I managed to have an awesome Christmas.

It all started with a really nice Christmas Eve with Friends:

I also went swimming that day in the pool at the hotel down the street, so I am a little bit burnt. Christmas Eve was really nice as we all came to this really expensive house and chilled. The house belonged to this very lovely elderly woman who is part of the host family program AIESEC Bandung runs. However because she has been sick lately hasn't taken in any interns. Her house is HUGE and we took heaps of photos.

We had dinner at this satay kebab place. It smelled really good but I just had some ice cream :)
When Christmas Day hit, it was time for my Host Family to open the presents I got for them and for me to open the presents they got me. They gave me a very beautiful shawl with intricate designs and a awesome looking shirt. I got the family Pictionary. And my Host Sister a silver bangle. They've been asking me to teach them English so I got them Pictionary to speed up the process. I'm starting to think, maybe I should have gotten them Monopoly, but that game is so long winded and sometimes uber boring.

After Lunch it was off to Paris Van Java, the biggest Mall in Bandung. A photo of this can be seen in an earlier blog where I am standing in a sunflower garden. I went with Beryl. When we eventually got there. And I say eventually because traffic was so bad, for what was a 15 minute journey by Taxi, took us an hour. When we eventually got there, the Taxi driver didn't have enough change so we ended up giving him 100,000 Rp (RIPPED OFF!), should have told him to bugger off. Paris Van Java was decorated with a lot of Christmas Decorations. It was really pretty and Beryl and I had a stella of a time taking pictures.

It was either watch a movie or ICE SKATING... hmmm... we looked at the movie and with only Harry Potter and a few unknown Kid Movies to see we looked at each other and made our way to where we thought the Ice Skating rink was. Note: We had no idea where we were going and can't really speak Bahasa, so it took us a while to find it.

In the end we only found the place by giving up and making our way to Starbucks where we found a sign that said Skating. The place was amazing, and as a person that studies construction I was interested in seeing the ice skating rink built on the roof of the mall. 

My shoes were very tight, and although they fitted me length ways I found my feet were squished into them. I only got two blisters though, but we weren't skating for long as we were waiting for Berly's cousins to arrive at PVJ (Paris Van Java).

When I was skating I stacked it once, and when I got up I couldn't help notice the locals taking Pictures of me as Beryl helped me into a standing position once again. I guess they couldn't help taking a photo of the 'white girl' falling over. Beryl stacked it twice. It was really funny to watch!

 We are so Graceful!!!

When Beryl's cousins arrived it was off to The Duck King, a very nice Chinese restaurant. My family and friends are most probably going to laugh at this, but although I am one of the most annoying fussy eaters on the face of the planet, when I sat down with Beryl and ate what I am assuming is Duck amongst other things my mouth had a mini orgasm. It was SO good!!! Duck + Chinese Cuisine = MOUTH ORGY. I'm sorry for the descriptive equation but seriously, there is no other way to describe it, unless you come here and try it yourself. *wink*

 One of the Best Restaurant Meals I Have Ever Had

I went on this trip expecting to find spending Christmas and New Year away from my home in Australia hard and sad. But it was far from that. Instead I had heaps of fun, met new people, enjoyed new food and celebrated Christmas in a new style - On Ice in Another Country!

Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New Year!

Lots of Love - xo Shez

WILD!!!! Indonesia

IN - DOE - NAY - SHA *clap* *clap* ~ *clap**clap* ~ *clap*

Yes, I know that is not the correct spelling however this is the chant you need to sing if you are supporting Indonesia in Soccer/Football. And sing it I did as I joined my Host Sister in watching Indonesia play the Philippines in the Semi Final of the Asian Federation Football Cup.

Indonesia won 1 to 0. The atmosphere was electric. When their national athem played the whole stadium sang proudly the song they connected to as a country. I didn't understand a single word but as I stood there, overlooking thousands of people and the players on the soccer field I couldn't help getting goosebumps as the passion of the crowd over took me. I continually thought Phillipines didn't stand a chance as I looked out and all I saw was a sea of red and white, cheering loudly and proudly for their country. It was the greatest experience of my life.

I travelled to the football match with Putri's University Group. It was interesting to meet all the new people, and although I was shy at first and some of the people were distant by the end of it I had made a lot of new friends. 

Honestly I was a bit nervous in going to the football game as I was a foreigner, and hardly looked Indonesian. I thought I would be treated as an outsider, however that was defiantly not the case. The group I traveled with to the game took photos with me, joked with me, talked to me, helped me, cheered with me, gave me a really really STRONG coffee O.O and most of all befriended me.  I'll never forget this day, it was purely amazing and 100% fun!

Police Dude Wanted a Picture With Me... (I Wonder Why...?)