Indonesia, Indonesia - The power of ignoring

A funny thing happens when I move around in Indonesia with one or both of my sisters here. Both of them have an Indonesian father, mine is Dutch. Since my dad's genes were also significantly stronger than my mom's, I turned out several shades lighter than my siblings. This often leads to surprised looks or exclamations varying around:"Noooooo! Are you REALLY sisters?!".

But mostly it leads to nothing. Absolutely nothing. Last week, on the bus we start talking to a woman. My sister tells her I'm her adik (little sister) and the woman asks me if I'm studying Indonesian somewhere. I'm wondering if she even heard what my sister just said. She just completely ignored the 'sister' part. And she's not the only one. Most people just did not hear that. This white girl is her sister?! No, that's beyond comprehension. So what better way to deal with it than to ignore it? Problem solved.

Something's fishy here

We all know by now that there's something fishy about fish. A few years a go the documentary Darwin's Nightmare opened our eyes to the ecologically unsustainable and socially unjust way fish was farmed at the Victoria Lake. We hear that while fishing tuna, dolphins get caught in the nets. We hear about the bluefin tuna becoming extinct if we keep on fishing it the way we do. But sometimes, we also hear some good news. On TED, my dealer of good news, there's this video to watch:



Dan Barber explains how he, as a chef, tries to cook with sustainable products. When asked to present at a conference about his favorite fish, he decided to ask the supplier for more details about this environmentally friendly fish. As it so appears, the fish were fed 'sustainable protein', which in other words meant chicken bones and feathers. Nice, especially for vegetarians. He does however find a fish that seems to be farmed in a more sustainable and healthy way. Watch this video and let Dan take you on his journey. The other talk he gave on TED, about Fois Gras, is also definitely worth watching!

A preaching hypocrite with turquoise shoes

Sometimes, I'm a bit of a preacher. I tell people which books to read (Stephen Covey), what websites to visit (TED.com), which fish not to eat (tuna), which jeans to wear (Kuyichi) and what music to listen to (Mayra Andrade). Sometimes I'm just enthusiastic and that's nice (many of my friends actually watch TED now and we share great stories). But sometimes I'm mainly being annoying.

Why is that? My vegetarian friends (and I have many) never try to convince me not to eat meat. I, on the other hand. preach about tuna. My life turned tuna free after I read an article in TIME magazine that hit a nerve with me. Several years a go after watching 'Darwin's nightmare' I didn't eat Nile Perch fillet anymore. But somehow my awareness of the terrible conditions under which the fish from the Victoria lake is caught and made into fillets, faded away.

I try to do the right things and to buy the right goods. But everything we do in this regard raises many questions, such as: how do we actually know the information we are getting (about tuna or about the good working condition of Kuyichi staff in Peru) is true? Once we start buying one pair of 'conscious' jeans should we ensure all our clothes are made by employees that get social benefits? And if so, how do we check that? Should we both look at the social AND the environmental aspects? And if we have to choose, which aspect is more important to us?

Recently, I ask myself these questions and people around me do the same. After buying a beautiful pair of green (turquoise according to the brand's website) heels, a friend asked me if I was sure they weren't made by Brazilian children. It was only then I realized, I hadn't looked into that at all. While buying the shoes, I just thought about the beauty and the quality (yes, I refuse to buy crappy shoes anymore). If we want to contribute to making the world better and to ensure that our footprint is as small as possible, how should we go about it? Should we check the whether all products we buy are biological and fair trade? Should I just stop flying airplanes? Traveling is probably my biggest contribution to an unsustainable world. Can I quit? Would it make a difference if everyone is else is still doing it?

As you can see, I have many questions about this subject. This blogpost starts my exploration of this topic and posts to come will try to answer the questions. And let me come out for it, just for the record: My name is Amis Boersma and I am a hypocrite.

Ain't nothing wrong with loving coffee

At the start of this year, I mapped out my wishes for 2010 and started my personal year plan (see here). Inspired by what I had read on a lifestyle design blog, I asked my significant other what according to him was something that makes me tick, one thing that I cannot stop talking about. "Coffee" he said. "Coffee?!" I yelled, "What kind of a do-gooder am I, if I talk more about coffee than about anything else?". Well, that got me thinking. About many things, but mostly about how coffee really deserves a blogpost, or maybe even more. Because it IS true, I really do LOVE coffee.

With or without my fabulous Gaggia machine around (which is still in Amsterdam), I see it as a challenge to make a great caffe latte. I get excited when at bars they have the milk and coffee layered or (even better) when the have done some kind of foam art. I like places where they serve good cookies with your cup of koffie verkeerd ('wrong' coffee in Dutch, referring to the fact that there is more milk than coffee in the cup). A nice biscotti or thin sweet biscuit does it for me. I like it when it is clear that the person who made the coffee loves it as much as I do.

And yes, of course there are people insanely crazy about coffee. They even make Latte Art videos and post them online. Here are two great examples:

There is of course a lot more to say about coffee. And I will do just that, soon.

Ignite Jakarta - Enlighten Us, But Make it Quick

On March 4th the first Ignite Jakarta event was organized. This event started as a small scale initiative in Seattle and grew out into a worldwide event within a couple of years. The initiator of the event in Jakarta, Ramya Prajna, felt that Indonesia should also be represented during Global Ignite Week, when in more than 70 cities worldwide this event would be organized. It was a good call, because it was a great success. Especially nice for me was that Ramya allowed me to be one of the twenty Ignite presenters. All of us got 5 minutes and 20 slides (which automatically moved to the next after 15 seconds) to tell a story. The line up was really good. It consisted of famous Indonesians (the rapper Pandji, the comedian Iwel Wel for instance) and less known Indonesians, who gave smashing talks. They spoke of online communities, photography (Taking one photo each day, iPhoneography), the importance of numbers and measuring and about how to think outside the box, but execute within the box. My nephew Petho shared a great story about how he gained weight by eating the right food and working out in order to increase his self-esteem.

And then there was one half-Indonesian, half-Dutchie. My story was about 'time' in Indonesia. About how people do not look ahead and live in the moment more. And about how that is sometimes great. And sometimes not so great. The topic kept on growing in scope, far beyond what 5 minutes can hold. After philosophical debates with several family members I decided to narrow down the subject. I basically just talked about how my life here involves a lot less stress than my life in the Netherlands used to. My main point: Let Indonesian not also fall into the stress trap, but let them be effective in a more relaxed way. In order to do that you need the best of both worlds... Seen from the audience's response, my talk was a success and I have to say. I really enjoyed myself on stage! Soon the talk will be online, including English subtitles.

You can read more (in Indonesian) here and (in English) here.

Indonesia, Indonesia - Fogged out of the office

Where in the world do your colleagues run into your office saying: "Come outside now, they're coming to fog the office!" and then you grab your phone, you stand outside the office with everyone else, some guys in blue overalls come in with big smoke guns spreading out some deadly fog, only to walk out followed by cockroaches running for their lives (most of them in vain though)? Right, Indonesia. The area where I work was cleared of dengue mosquitos last week, or at least that's the idea. I hope it worked, cause I would not like to fall ill like my friend Egbert.

The fogging was quite an experience, especially since it took at least an hour before it was deemed 'safe' to move back in. Completely unprepared as I was, I hung around and chatted with the other 'evacuees'. They did not however seemed to be bothered as much as me by the smoke residues floating around. It smelled like Baygon all day and that can never be good for your health! Well, obviously someone made the decision that inhaling some toxic smoke would beat getting dengue, which I guess makes sense. While we were all standing outside though, with roaches running towards us, I wondered if there's no other way of beating the mosquitos. Or was this just an attempt to distract a bunch of human rights activists?

Anyway, at least many roaches died of suffocation that day. Also, when, one day later, I was surprised at being bitten by a very much alive mosquito, someone said: 'No, but the fogging only kills the dengue mosquitos'. Say what?! Can someone explain that to me please?

Indonesia, Indonesia - May your skin be white and unwrinkled

The past months, it hasn't been easy for me to find facial cream that wouldn't make my skin even whiter. Almost all skin products you can buy in Indonesia contain whitener! In my case, whitener is not really necessary... Actually, in the Netherlands I even sometimes bought the cream which made my skin look 'healthier' - back home that means it contains some chemical for tanning. That is where East and West still differ. In the West, we want bronze skins to look 'healthy' (and to show how often we can take holidays to warm places). In the East, whiteness is still seen as refined. It shows you have money enough to not to have to go outside. I've seen girls wearing umbrellas and gloves up to their armpits (when driving a car for instance) to protect themselves from the sun.

One thing we do seem to agree about everywhere in the world is that we, especially women, have to stay young. Or at least LOOK young. The billboard in the picture says something like "Pretty at age thirty and beyond'. The girl on the poster obviously is not thirty yet. The thirty-year old in the foreground however is happy to know that there is cream to battle her wrinkles with!