You know what makes traffic in Jakarta even worse??? A Marathon!

30 Oct 13

Pondok Indah Mall

So October is coming to a close, and I am in the middle of some pretty extreme language learning during the weekdays and some sight-seeing on the weekends.  Saturday, I went to one of the more larger and luxurious malls known as “Pondok Indah.”  This mall is located in the more wealthy area of Jakarta, and elaborate and spacious mansions are on one block and tin shacks are on the next block…quite a contrast!

On Sunday, Jakarta held the first-ever Marathon, which caused quite a disruption in Sunday morning traffic.  Church starts at 8am, so I found myself right in the middle of road closures and some pretty bad traffic congestion.  I asked the taxi driver to drop me off on the side of a toll road, and I would walk the rest of the way.  Little did I know that it would take a little over 30 minutes to get to church.  I got there right on time, but others were stuck in traffic, so church started 30 minutes late.

We had special guest speakers during our short Sunday School class.  They were senior missionary couples that have been assigned all over the globe to help out with pediatric care through a program called “Help Babies Breathe: The Golden Minute.”  The focus is specifically teaching midwives and mothers CPR and other skills that have been proven to decrease the infant mortality rate in third world countries.  They shared with us some experiences they had in Bandung (west of Jakarta), one being a newborn baby that stopped breathing while the family was caught in a traffic jam, and the mother was able to resuscitate the baby.  It really showed me the great services that are provided by the church and the awesome opportunities that are out there to provide service like this to countries like Indonesia.

In my studies, I have come across some very interesting cultural points of interest in Indonesia.  I studied about these guys who go out to get bee hives so they can sell them in the market.  It sounds simple, but one guy has to climb the tree using things like bamboo and rope to assist him in his climb.  He also climbs up with a branch of leaves on fire so the smoke will drive away the upset bees.  Now what is crazy is these guys put themselves in pretty dangerous situations and only get paid like Rp 40,000 (which is like $4) for a day’s work.  And yet, they come back and do it almost everyday.  What a life!