Daily life in Surabaya

While we were recently in Jogjakarta we realized that we have come to think of Surabaya as home and we looked forward to getting back here. Jogjakarta is a tourist city and we got tired of the harassment from touts and vendors selling everything and becak (pedicab) drivers pushing us to take a ride.  Surabaya is not a tourist destination, but it is, much as they say about Chicago, a city that works.  The business elite are ethnic Chinese with their usual vigorous work ethic. They steer clear of politics, by and large, but own businesses large and small.  We continue to be surprised by the wealth around here.  It is visible in some large homes and elaborate weddings ( often in this complex where we live).  There are many large fancy malls and often on Sunday we eat at a food court at one nearby.  It is a good place to people watch as many multigenerational families come to eat after church.  Most of the Chinese here are Christians (often there is nary a headscarf in sight).  One can just tell by the clothes and accessories that they are well off.  It is hard to miss that many of the children are overweight.  A friend told me that here fast food is relatively expensive so more patronized by the well off.  At another mall recently we saw a child's birthday party in a fast food place.  Tom tried to surreptitiously take a picture and we immediately became the center of attention with all the children wanting to have their picture taken.  There were probably 40 children present. 

 There are also fancy 17th birthday parties.  Surabaya has its problems, most notably traffic, but it is big enough to offer just about anything one needs.  There is an airport with good connections and plenty of five star hotels.

In addition to the wealthy, there are a thriving middle class and the very poor.  The classes can also be defined by one's mode of transportation.  The upper class drive cars, the middle class motorcycles, and the poor walk or ride becaks or crowd into ancient minibuses which ply the streets.  The poor may have a food cart or do very basic manual labor.  I will say there is a strong entrepreneurial spirit here.  I saw guys washing cars in the parking area at the mall and people will set up on a sidewalk doing motorcycle repair or selling gas by the liter.  Believe it or not free lance traffic assistants appear every rush hour and drivers will tip them small amounts.

We have come to see our apartment as a haven from the chaos and we are establishing our routines.  We both wake up early with the sun which rises about 5 AM, but are coming and going in different directions most of the morning.  Tom arises first for his morning exercise which can be tennis if his partner is in town, or his tai chi on Tuesdays and Thursdays, ( it is a  local variation of tai chi called ling tien Kung) or just an hour long walk around the neighborhood.  I get up between 5:45 and 6:15 and check email and the overnight news as the US day is winding down and have breakfast.  Tom gets back, showers and breakfasts, and I head downstairs to the fitness center shortly after 7.  It is packed then(Chinese), but begins to clear out by 7:30.  I want to be back by 8 to watch Anderson Cooper as it is the only US based news broadcast I can get.  Tom leaves about 8:10.  After AC 360 I usually swim for 20 to 30 minutes in my gorgeous pool which I usually have all to myself.

Then I shower and do morning chores like dishes and laundry (I have a washing machine, but air dry things on a laundry rack.). On Tuesdays and Thursdays I leave by 11 for my volunteer job and on MWF I walk to the supermarket.

The afternoons are less hectic.  I read or go on the computer or blog.  My cleaning guy comes MWF at 1Pm.  I get the English language Jakarta Post delivered which comes around noon.  At first I read it cover to cover, but I have gotten a little bored with the labyrinthine details of Indonesian government.  There is an astonishing amount of corruption which reaches to the very highest levels of government.  The paper reports freely on it but it seems unstoppable.  There is something called the Corruption Eradication Committee whose doings are almost comical.  Stephen Colbert  and the daily Show would have a field day here.  It does have a good business section which covers all the financial markets as well as every twitch of the Rupiah exchange rate.

Tom tries to be home by 4 (as do I when I volunteer) because traffic gets ferocious from then until 6.

We usually eat dinner at home, but sometimes venture out into the surrounding area for a meal.

Then it's a quiet evening and an early bedtime around 9.  Although we have about 50 channels there isn't usually much TV worth watching.    We have CNN international which seems much less robust than when I watched it in the Middle East and other English language news programs from BBC, Europe, Russia, etc.  I find I like Al Jazeera English quite a bit.  The Russian one is interesting as you have to pay careful attention to determine it is Russian.  It's called RT and it has anchors who speak accentless English and has a snappy set, but if you watch often you can detect a decided Russian bias to the news.  By far the best news show is on cnni which has anchors and analysts in NY, London, and Hong Kong and covers mainly the financial news, but has covered the politics of the Euro situation very well.  I guess that is the one time during the 24 hour news day that most of the world is awake.  Lately HBO (?) has been showing episodes of Mad Men which is nice, but they can be from season one or season three or whatever.  Hard to follow.