Hello everyone,



It’s been quite a while since I wrote on this blog, especially in English. It’s been 9 months since I live here in Surabaya. And thank God, I’ve experienced many new things and hopefully it’s always a learning process for me and my family.


Enjoying Traffic – A privilege
As you all may be aware, traffic in Jakarta is really something that has shape the way people spend their time. It’s very common for Jakartan’s to spend 4 hours everyday in the traffic. This means that most of the workers who live in places like Tangerang, Depok, Bintaro, Cibubur have to leave home to office at 6 (six) o’clock in the morning and arrive back home at 7 o’clock in the evening with normal office hours from 8 to 5. Mostly this condition is getting worse during rainy season where traffic get worse due to flood or most of the time caused by nothing significant.

Here in Surabaya, even the furthest place in town can be reached in approximately 30 – 40 minutes. The worse road in terms of traffic as I know is A. Yani road or Darmo Road, and I considered that the traffic on those roads is nothing compared to Jl. Fatmawati or Warung Buncit in Jakarta.
One of the luxuries that I have since I live at Surabaya is that I can leave home to go to work at 7.40 am using my motor cycle or at 7.30 am if I drove my car. And I can still arrive at the office 5 minutes before 8 o’clock. On the way back home, it’s even better, on average I can reach home only 15 minutes. This may have caused also by the close distance that I have from home to office, but at least I don’t have to worry that I would come late at the office every single day.


Visiting New Places
Being lived in a new city has brought me and my wife’s appetite to have an adventure, especially when we have some free time (mostly on weekends). Back in Jakarta, weekends is already booked with many social activities like; arisan keluarga, attending wedding parties, or just visiting parents or relatives. With the traffic that Jakarta has, these activities practically consume all the free time that we have on weekends.

Before I lived here, I have never imagined visiting Bangkalan-Madura, Batu-Malang, or even Lumajang. Other interesting places like Yogya, Bromo, are the next priorities on our list.


Working at the Office
The challenges that I faced in this new office that worked at is also something new and of course it’s harder than I previously had. Beside the challenge, something that I feel different is shifting from a formal working environment where I need to wear a conventional tie and shiny shoes to casual uniform like Batik and short-sleeves shirt, I have learned that something we wear also can bring the mood and productivity. Here, no one seems to care on what kind of shoes that you wore, do you polished them regularly, or even have you combed your hair properly too.


Besides appearance, I really like the time people leave office. For your information; officially working hour here is from 8 to 5, and usually at 5.30 most of employees are already went home and leaving their buildings dark. Except for some people from Accounting and IT, I guess people who worked at these departments at every company are the same; they seem to consider their social life is their office.


Practically so far I can manage my time properly here; I’m able to finish my entire task during office hour. This has resulted I never take my work to my home where I need to spend extra time to finish everything so that it can be ready in the following days. Also on weekends, I never have a phone call from my boss asking for something related to working matters. So, every morning I can spend more time with my son longer, also at night, I still have energy to read him stories or just chat with my wife and son at his air-conditioned bedroom. Weekends is also filled with spending time visiting new places, trying new local cuisine or just watching DVD.


Alhamdulillah and I do hope that this joy lasts; even though sometime I really missed my family and friends in Jakarta.