Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Living in Jakarta too long.

One of my friends posted this in Facebook. I thought I would share some of the

  • When after every sentence you say ... Iyaaahh!
  • You too believe traffic lanes, stop signs and one way streets are mere suggestions and that sidewalks were meant to drive on or they wouldn't have paved them.
  • You can drive 60 km/h two inches from cars on either side of you, but cannot back into a parking space in an empty lot without two guys yelling “Kiri…Kiri Terus, Terus, Terus…”
  • You can kill cockroaches with your bare feet
  • The footprints on the toilet seat are your own
  • You no longer wait in line, but immediately go to the head of the queue
  • You stop at the bottom of the escalator to plan your day
  • You habitually punch all the buttons as you leave the lift
  • It has become exciting to see if you can get on the lift before anybody else can get off
  • You're willing to pay to use a toilet you wouldn't go to within a kilometer of at home
  • It is no longer surprising that the only decision made at a meeting is the time and venue for the next meeting
  • You rank the decision making abilities of your staff by how long it takes them to reply “up to you mister”
  • You no longer wonder how someone making US$200 per month can drive a Mercedes
  • You accept the fact that you have to queue to get your number for the next queue
  • You have considered buying a motorcycle for the next family car
  • You find it saves time to stand and retrieve your cabin baggage while the plane is on final approach
  • You think the Proton and Kijang are stylish and well built cars
  • You answer the telephone with “Hello” more than 2 times
  • You are quite content to repeat your order six times in a restaurant that only has four items on the menu
  • A T-bone steak and rice sounds just fine
  • If when listening to the pilot prove he can't speak English, you no longer wonder if he can understand the Air Traffic Controllers
  • You regard it as part of an adventure when the waiter exactly repeats your order and the cook makes something completely different
  • You're not surprised when three men with a ladder show up to change a light bulb
  • Taxi drivers understand you
  • You own a rice cooker
  • Due to selective memory you honestly believe you could return to the western world
  • You can shake your hands almost perfectly dry before wiping them on your pants
  • When crossing a busy street you believe that a limp wrist motion with your right arm creates a force field that repels oncoming traffic
  • You think it's logical to dry your hands with Kleenex
  • When dining with your family at a mexican restaurant, the table next to you is occupied by an overweight, bald, fifty-something Australian petroleum worker who has each of his arms around a teenaged Sundanese girl
  • You find yourself getting upset with inflation because the price of the buffet in a five-star hotel is now nearly ten dollars
  • Going out for a drink with your coworker, he shows up with his girlfriend, even though you are on a first name basis with his wife
  • There is no discount for what is clearly a demo model
  • A gaggle of teenage girls swoon as you walk by
  • The cute looking girls in Singapore seemingly pay you no notice whatsoever
  • McDonald's is out of hamburgers and KFCs is out of chicken
  • You ask a person taking your order, “Do you have cheeseburgers?” and the server responds, “Yes, we do.” And so you say, “OK, I'll order a cheeseburger.” And the server says, “I'm sorry, we're out of cheeseburgers.”
  • You can walk into a five-star hotel lobby unshaven, in jogging shorts, ratty t-shirt and flip-flops and DON'T get an awkward glance from the management.
  • A bathroom with four attendants is so disgustingly filthy that you wouldn't step into it back home ... and one of those attendants sole job is to hand you flimsy, single-ply toilet paper to dry your hands.
  • You look left, right, backwards, forwards, up and down before crossing a one way street.
  • You've seen every hollywood blockbuster three weeks before its premier
  • You pick your nose in public
  • You take a book to read on the journey to work ( thank you for that one Mr Cook)
  • You consider an 18 year old getting on a bit
  • Your current girlfriend is younger than your daughter
  • The titles "Mr. Bob" and "Miss Barbara" begin to sound normal to you
  • You stop wondering why the concept of turning lanes never occurred to traffic engineers in Jakarta
  • You stop wondering if the concept of traffic engineers ever occurred to anyone in Jakarta
  • You find a fly in your Bintang, and you fish the fly out with a spoon and drink it anyway
  • You find a fly in your Bintang, and you drink it fly and all. (That's how you know you have really been in Indonesia too long).
  • you are no longer confused when you are asked if you want some 'beep bacon' (beef bacon) with your eggs.

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