Pekalongan

Pekalongan was a blast! We had an overwhelming time there. During our visit at the University in Bandung, the local professor suggested us to join the trip to see the seminar in Pekalongan, where 2008 a LERD project had been set up. When we arrived, to our greatest surprise we met our Dutch professor who enthusiastically welcomed us. This was as unexpected for him, as it was for us, it seemed. Besides him, we were also welcomed by the Local LERD team and the two assisting people from the Dutch Research team. During the weekend, we had enough time to get to know Monique and Ad well and to exchange stories. Both are very interesting individuals from which we could learn a great deal.
After a 7 hour race, not just a boring car ride, more a Nascar racing type of journey, we were quite “used” and actually needed some rest. I mean just imagine a driver on speed, acid, ecstasy or any kind of drug you can imagine, which makes you lose any perception of speed and distances, can be very exhausting. However, the LERD team had set up an extensive weekend program, so we immediately had to leave again. To our greatest surprise, another astonishing event would take place this weekend. It was the yearly Batik week, the local product, which is also the issue of concern for the LERD team. Therefore, we gladly accepted the invitation to attend the evening activity, a dinner at the Major’s house, including fashion show, light show and a typical Indonesian dinner. Besides the super-spicy dishes we could fully enjoy this relaxing evening. When I watched an interview with a Minister from South Korea on BBC recently, I was surprised to hear him explaining that the next booming industry sector will be design. I always believed fashion trends are set at the catwalks in Milan, Paris, London, NY, Tokyo, but not in South Korea, or as we were witnessing this weekend even in Pekalongan, Java.
The next day we attended the main event, which was the seminar. During the long-lasting session which was held in Bahasa Indonesia, we could not do much more than observing the reactions of the different parties. However, this did not really matter that much, because we were still struggling with the dinner from last night. After some hours, Santiago lost his fight and returned to the hotel. So the first Padawan was defeated. That moment I swore I will not let the Indonesians defeat the other one as well. I officially declared the spices confrontation, and it was clear only one of us could win!
Sorry, I sometimes get distracted from the main issues. Anyway, we had to wait until the very end of the meeting to get some translations. Nevertheless, it was an insidefull session. Afterwards, we (I mean theoretically “us”, but Santi was of course sleeping at that time already, getting his stomach back to normal) were invited to join the Carneval. And by join I mean…. “JOIN”. This was not really clear to me at the beginning either, and it seemed as if Professor Pennink did not fully realize the situation either! Once we arrived to the city center, we were told to search for our wagon…. “our wagon”… I thought I misunderstood. What do they want to tell me? I did not order a wagon? And I am not trying to sell anything either? But they insisted. We had to search our horse and wagon. From the distance I read Netherlands, Korea, Bolivia, but it did not make click yet…. Yes sometimes I am quite slow! … Germany… Germany, who is from Germany? “OHHHHH”, “holy shiiiiiiiii……” “no way”, not Norway, Germany! I could not believe what I was seeing. Eventually, we all got our own little wagon to participate in the Carneval, and as if that would not have been enough, they also clearly announced us! So here I was, a student, who had to learn how to swim, who was thrown in the freaking North Sea to learn to swim, and now that same student had to join the Carneval…. The nightmare turned out to be very joyful in the end. We all only had to sit and wave hands. Smile and serve as puppies to take pictures of. So just what we, as Bule (foreigners), do hear every day anyways ;) The Carneval was a very creative and entertaining 3 hour ceremony.



After two nights in a proper bed, we felt reborn, fresh and energetic, loaded with curiosity and zest for action. That very day, we would visit our first real project. No more theoretical research, interviews with officials, NO… it was time to get dirty! … and we were prepared!.... Sort of :P
We visited a local production site, the waste management system and some Batik locations. We got to know the team, understood their dreams, but also saw reality. Somehow, those two seemed to be quite far from each other… but we were surprised by their eagerness, in that way we felt quite as them! The main problem is that the industry as a whole is not acting as a strong group who strives to achieve something. The issues are on all layers and improvements can be down in the marketing, in the environmental in the creative as well as in the environmental, production area. A lot to do!
For us, this weekend we met many interesting people, which was very helpful to get the big picture. We are convinced that we will be able to get a good Thesis done, based on all these experiences.
Till next time… cheers

Picture Gallery

Hey,

Santi set up a picture gallery. So far we uploaded some impressions from the first days.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/santim/

Jakarta to Bandung

Time flies!! It is stunning that we already spend three days in Indonesia, but did not find the time to write down some short stories. We are still surprised every day by new things that we see or simply by the way the Indonesians live. However, most of the time we are just overwhelmed by the supportiveness and friendliness of the local people. But now, let’s share some experiences with you.
Santiago fell in love! Not in the conventional sense though. Whenever he sees a Bajaj (small 3-wheeler, sort of a taxi) he smiles, wants to take a picture and starts talking about his dream to be stuck in Indonesia so he would have to start a Bule-Bajaj Service (foreigner Taxi business). His love is deep. You won’t believe it, but every time we need a cap, he tries to bargain with the driver to let him sit in the front and master the traffic. The only thing that saves my life from being exposed to Santiago’s driving skills in the traffic of Jakarta, is the fact that we cannot communicate with the driver… luckily! I believe they are so surprised by the request, in universal sign language, that they cannot believe that it could be true and therefore try to tell us something else. Another passion of Santis’ is train-surfing. He hopes we will get the chance to join the couple of hundreds sitting on top of train right next to the high voltage power stripe :P
Talking about myself, I am more fascinated by the food… not a big surprise for many of you I guess :) The variety if Mie, and Goreng meals and the extreme tasty, thus spicy, sauces make my day. I could eat all day long, and I guess I would, but time is very restricted.
The 2 days in Jakarta we were somehow always in a hurry. The first meeting we had at the Bappenas, which is the local planning agency. They are the initiators of the Local Economic Development Projects which we are going to visit. Without prior notice we said we give it a shot, and went to their offices. They were extremely friendly and made time available right away. We got a clear understanding of their role in these projects and even joined a meeting of the Head of Office with their Japanese partner universities. What we did not know beforehand is that not only the Uni Groningen is involved but also Japanese Unis. The Professors from International University of Japan were as surprised to meet us in the meeting as we were to meet them :) … but after the meeting we said, next destination JAPAN. Really cool what they had to tell!
The next day we went to see a private consultant who is specialized in supporting public-private partnerships. The meeting was very different from our first. Not only because people working for the government have a different way from the private sector, but also because of his different perception of those projects. In the end Santiago got really excited by the new insights. The meeting was very helpful because we saw the business opportunities in the area of urban development. Public-Private Partnerships are way better than Privatization! <- main conclusion ;)
For those two meetings we spend hours on the road or in Internet coffees but we still had some time to be tourists and go local. Our host Anne, gave us a crash course in Bahasa and the local habits. Her family is extensive and friends are always coming over. Whenever we came home somebody was sleeping somewhere. The Indonesians are very social and they share everything. They have a much stronger community feeling than us in Europe and even in Latin America. The second night in Jakarta we even had the chance to go to a local bar. Some Couchsurfers joined and we felt like being in the most relaxed chill-out bar in the world. Awesome :)
Yesterday we went on. After some rescheduling, we were supposed to meet Pa Heru, the counterpart of our Professor here in Indonesia at the ITB Bandung, a university in Bandung. The Jakarta crew was so supportive, that they decided short hand to drive us there, a 2,5hrs drive. Cool ain’t ?!! In Bandung the professor invited us to join the LERD seminar this weekend in Pekalongan so we would have another fruitful experience for writing our thesis. Therefore, we basically had the day off, which was really nice. With some more Couchsurfers from Bandung we went to do a real a shopping tour. Randy, now we understand your addiction! The designs were amazing and we did some fotosessions. Jakarta style! Yeah!
If we find some time we will write you a bit more and upload some pictures to the internet!