Medan Kota

well… I am writing this post right after I finished writing the one over at MedanKu.com… in line with the ‘Indonesia Independence Day 17 August 2009‘… the 64th merdeka….  ok.. I had no plan on writing any of this in the first place… but I was watching the Air Force One on TV and got a silly urge to write something for this country… i am sounding a bit hypocrite aren’t I?..  the truth is… there are certain things that I do love about Indonesia… what I wrote at MedanKu.com was something truly from my heart… something that i feel after all these years of living in this country… things that I see from my silly eyes and in my opinion… so.. its not some lie …

so.. let’s see … after all these years… to ask me to make a list of things that I dis-heart about Medan or the country… well… PLENTY… too many for me to name… and from my heart, a sincere apology to the local Medanese… but I am a city girl… so Medan is really not my kind of place… well, to tell you the truth, I am sitting here trying to think of all the good stuff of this country that I will always longed for whenever I am away… my god… I was twisting my brain to come out with 10… but all I can get was 3 and forcefully think hard for the other 2….

1. have a Personal Driver…

the rate of employing a driver in Medan, Indonesia is from US$120 onwards…  seriously… there is no where else in the world you can get that cheap… in Bangkok, the rate starts at US$ 600 for the normal 8 working hours plus expensive overtime… but here in Medan… god.. they work for like 12 hours and OT is like Rp 10.000 per hour…

each time I got back to BKK… I think of my driver always… he will always be there to help me carry stuff, my groceries.. (he walked around the wet market with me to help me carry my shopping!!!).. and my car.. it’s always spotless clean…

2. Cheap Restaurant Food

for this one… it applies to selected few.. like Sushi, Jimbaran, Chinese Jumbo, Taipan Yum Cha, Trattoria… if you know how to order smartly… its really cheap to dine out in Medan… although the quality is lower, but I think its good enough for the price that the restaurants are charging…

3. School Fees

some parents will probably disagree with me on this one… but I think paying US$230 per month for the level of education that the National Plus School in Medan is providing .. well.. I will have to say… reasonable… well.. for a start, the kids are in air conditioned rooms (my boys class have at least 2 big units in their classroom!), reasonable quality snacks are provided and that the teachers are reasonable… in Thailand… school of Piaget standard will be charging at least US$ 450 per month… but that doesn’t mean that Piaget can charged more than the current coz it’s not in line with the local market and the school facilities…. (got to say that… just in case.. school fees gone up and everyone come blaming after me… hahaha…)

4. Car Petrol

everyone got to agree with me on this… with the government subsidise… the price of Premium per litre at Rp 4500, hhahah… well …. for Medan, in fact for the whole of Indonesia just got to be a paradise for car ownership…

5. Setting up new Businesses

if you have any new ideas, be it… restaurants, shops, retails, providing services… all you need is like one small Ruko and just like that.. you can operate a new business…

sometimes, I do wonder about myself… like…what’s there not for me to love of this place… it’s like.. I have been here for almost a decade.. and yet I still find it hard living here.. while at the same time.. I received emails from expat whom just love it here and will be immigrating over rather than staying in their own country….

well… I have to admit that I have only myself to blame… I can’t keep pushing the…. ‘dislike’.. ‘disheart’… ‘dispise’..  and blame it on the town… it’s really all about me… I tried to follow the old saying… ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans’… the reality is that… I tried.. it simply doesn’t work for me…. so why didnt I just move out… good question! … I have commitment that I can’t let go just yet… then next question… whats keeping me here! … simple four letters word… L*O*V*E…

so… in the mean time.. I am not doing the Romans do, but I am enjoying the Romans provision for me….

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