Sahil Rahman

Day 2

Here’s some pictures of my place that i had forgotten to post in the blog yesterday.

My humble abode. It’s pretty shitty but i’m gettin used to it and it’s growing on me i guess. Decided that i’m just gonna stay here and try to make the best of it, as it would be a whole thing to ask for a relocation. Companies taken great care of me so far, and don’t wanna be rude in any way by asking for different accommodations. Besides, i’ll be getting the TRUE asian experience living in a neighborhood where no one else can really speak english haha.

State of the art facilities

bed

I wasn’t kidding about being a millionaire, guess i can cross that one off the to do list. On to achieving that billionaire status..

Literally get woken up every morning by roosters haha. Completely understand the old saying now, lol.

At work the next day, they were having a press event over here in Indonesia. Was pretty cool, as it was actually my second press conference event in about 3 days so good experience speaking to reporters and public speaking. Unfortunately, the rain and some demonstrations or something resulted in a smaller turnout than anticipated, but good event nonethless.

Also, quickly realizing that this country actually has NO rules whatsoever. From what i hear, you can basically bribe the govt. and police for just about anything, and just about every second here has been quite a culture shock/learning experience.

With the team before the press conference!

Got my first oreo milkshake (sans the chocolate syrup of course)…was delicious

After the press conference, i spent a good amount of time in the kitchen talking to this awesome guy named fajjah or something like that who is training to be the managing partner in the soon to open 3rd outback in Indonesia. He’s the man! Apparently, he used to work on cruise ships, and travelled all around the world and has been to over 60 countries. He told me all about his travels and experiences on the ship and it sounded like such a sweet experience. He was getting paid to travel the world!

Although it sounded like hard work as well, if i could get a temporary job on a cruise line working fora few months as a supervisor or something, and getting paid to travel that would be soo sweet. Spent a good amount of time this afternoon looking it up, and seems to be a pretty simple application process so definitely something that could be cool!

Anyhow, after grabbing dinner my buddy Dilip (marketing manager) and i headed out to explore the jakarta nightlife. Was my first night out, so had no idea what to expect but turned out to be a pretty relaxed, fun evening. We went to a bar called “Elbow Room” that one of the journalists i met mentioned, and met a bunch of really cool, interesting people.

The first guy i met was a guy named Seb, who was teaching English over here for a year. He was from Isle of Man. Yes, the country he is from is called Isle of Man! Apparently it’s a small island in between Ireland and the UK or something like that, and i couldn’t believe it was a real place.

He showed me his license to prove it haha…Isle of man!

Tried the local beer, Bintang!

Me with my new friend Seb from Isle of Man! He was there with a group of nearly 15 friends, who were all young people teaching english abroad in Indonesia for the year. Was really cool meeting all of them, and i don’t think i’ll ever grow tired of meeting new people who are travelling, and learning about their unique lives and stories. Believe i’m meeting up with im and his buddies again tonight and going out around the town so hopefully it’ll be a good time!

I met a girl who had crazy curly hair just like one of my best friends katie drury so naturally had to take a picture iwth her. It was pretty funny we met, in that it was her last night in Jakarta and my first…circle of traveling.

Day 3 update

Got up this morning and took my obnoxiously long/boring drive to work. It’s actually not that far at all, it’s just that traffic in this country is actually unbearable. Worst part is that since the traffic is always at a stand still, you constantly have beggars and salesman approaching your car and knocking on your window. As you can see below, at times these people are adorable children and i feel terrible not giving them anything. Probably a part of why i’m not a huge fan of the commute to work, but definitely provides ample time to think about my life, place in the world, etc.

Young entreprenuer

There is an absolutely ridiculous amount of scooters or O’jaks as they call them everywhere weaving in and out of traffic here. They even go on the sidewalks and everything, so feel like you’re gonna get runover everywhere you go. Drunkenly crossing streets in cp is gonna be a piece of cake when i get back to school!

Bikers errywhere, guy had a sweet peace jacket.

After getting to work, i’ve pretty much spent the last 7 hours online doing “social media research” and reading lots of random articles. I think the shitty mattresses, and far too much time sitting down have taken a toll on my back as it’s been killin me that last couple weeks, so found some new exercises to do online so about to try some of those out.

It’s rather frustrating that i’m being allowed to spend so much time online, but being unable to stay in contact with anyone as the 11 hour time difference is somewhat terrible for communicating back home. Skyping is also a bit awkward as i’m at a restaurant talking to a computer screen with families eating dinner around me haha. Also, got a mosquito bite the other night so somewhat regretting my decision to not finish my malaria medicine course haha.. (don’t worry mom i’ll be fine)

If you want to contact me just shoot me an e-mail, or send me a message on facebook or something.

Going out for the second time tonight in Jakarta, so hopefully it’ll be a good time. Miss you all a bunch

Cheers amigos!

-Sahil