This title has been lingering on in my mind for sometime. I don't seem to have enough time to jolt my words here and there. I have my two blogs empty without anything new there. Anyhow, I have to discard this "old" topic into a piece of nonsensical writing, so excuse me for that.
You will know the meaning of the quotation marks in the word "Amazing" ( FYI: Quotation marks can have two meanings : 1. To emphasize things ( literal meanings) 2. To give the opposite meaning Which one of these I mean? you tell me!
Amazing based on Oxford is something surprising greatly. Some of you might know that Indonesians love the existence of malls, shopping centers, restaurants, cafes and all that jazz. I am being an Indonesian, of course, I like malls. I can't hate them! how can I? if there are just too many malls here, and only few parks to hang out? where else can I go to hang out? maybe that's a bad thing to have too many malls, but that's not the major "issue" here. Why do malls seem to be like whirling pools? they absorb people like crazy. What are there at malls that make most people here fall in love with? Malls according to Oxford : a large enclosed shopping area from which traffic is excluded while shopping area means areas with many shops that sell goods. 1. Cafes They are there at malls. They often have very eye-catching decorations, cozy atmosphere, and what more interesting is they facilitate WiFi. That's very tempting, huh? 2. Restaurants Does it sound like Indonesians like eating? yep they do apart from taking photos here and there, and posting them here and there as well. 3. Food Courts People here just love to chat ( Read: talk) for hours with friends, dear one(s), family regardless time.Food courts seem to be the "best" places for those who want to spend their times chatting at malls without feeling worry being rushed by anyone. 4. Shops ( of course, I am talking about malls, right?). I just can't name one by one what kind of shops you can find at malls. They are so many that they leave me some headache sometimes. In short, malls here are usually one-stop-by malls. Thus, you can now use them as meeting points as well. I know I know, meeting points at malls! that's Indonesia.
In general, malls operate from 10 AM up to 10 PM or 9 PM. Sometime ago, after my morning classes ended, while waiting for my next classes, I killed time by hanging out at one of the malls here.My watch showed 10 AM already. It was not something surprising for me to know the fact that at that time, I found quite so many people already at the mall. The escalators which weren't on yet didn't seem to be a problem for them. Indonesians tend to walk very slow sometimes, especially at malls (maybe they love the cold from the air conditioner? :D ) The fact is that it is not necessarily for us to grab something at malls. Going to malls doesn't always mean to buy something. They mostly like to kill time there before doing other activities outside. But what makes me realize that this isn't entirely true is that : they are willing to be there at 9 AM to wait for the doors to open at 10 AM. Then they window-shop sluggishly. They are real window-shoppers!. So getting up early JUST to be there at malls early is truly "amazing":-). Just my opinion as an Indonesian myself. If you ask me do I belong to that category? well, I like window-shopping, especially if I am on a budget. But getting up earl y JUST to be there at malls early? Hmm maybe not. Anyhow, this isn't about me personally, but this is what I think Indonesians in general. You may disagree or agree. Now last but not least, in which category do the words in quotations mean? You tell me!
Malls are not for me. I'm a traditionalist, I prefer small, family-run shops, not huge faceless corporate shopping centres. Window shopping? Can't really see the point. I go to a shop if I need to buy something. Personally, if I want to relax/kill time, I prefer to grab my camera and head into the beautiful local countryside.
Definitely sarcasm. Personally I hate malls and rarely go to one, so I wouldn't make a good Indonesian. Very educational piece though.
If there were many parks here, I would go to the parks instead of malls.If for instance, I would like to set a time to meet friends, I would suggest that we meet at a park ( but parks here are different compared to the USA, which I am sure you will find more parks than here in SUrabaya, Indonesia) SOrry Liz, I can't say it in a better way- I hope some developers, city developers, whatever you call them want to invest their money to build more parks with a lot of trees, and benches.
it is maybe more a human thing than an Indonesian thing?
This is what I thought, and I wasn't sure about this.> Sorry for making it hard to read, hmm I have been wanting to edit this page, but I don't seem to get the right time.
if I want to relax/kill time, I prefer to grab my camera and head into the beautiful local countryside.
This sounds great. Surabaya is a metropolitan city, it is as bad as Jakarta regarding pollution. I have met some of my foreigners friends who once said that we had too many malls here, but fewer parks. And I feel a bit irritated knowing that people bring their babies here to hang out at malls, hmm I don't know I just don't like the idea. I think I can only see what I see in the perspective of Indonesian myself, and I wish to travel to learn more about people:-)
You would love Savannah Lulu. Our city was actually a planned out city and has over 44 squares downtown, each of them a park. I would live downtown but it is very expensive there. We do have two malls, but they are on the south side of town, out of the "old" city. When I do need to go to the mall I usually go to the older one that is only 1 level and less modern. It does have a revamped food court in it that isn't a bad place to hang out and I can see the attraction for the younger crowd, especially the school age group that still live at home with mom and dad.
You would love Savannah Lulu. Our city was actually a planned out city and has over 44 squares downtown, each of them a park. I would live downtown but it is very expensive there. We do have two malls, but they are on the south side of town, out of the "old" city. When I do need to go to the mall I usually go to the older one that is only 1 level and less modern. It does have a revamped food court in it that isn't a bad place to hang out and I can see the attraction for the younger crowd, especially the school age group that still live at home with mom and dad.
I would love to see new places, and study people's behavior from different parts of the world. If I am busy, I will go directly to the shop that sells things I want to buy, If I have some more time, I do go to more modern malls with better facilities. Meanwhile I've been curious about mall things, the correlation between them and people, and I found this site http://www.wku.edu/gfcb/papers/Turley1.pdf I can't comment much on the link, as I am reading it while typing
Lulu... Today... Malls are a great thermometer of human function... and activity. ME.. I like malls. The market place of today. Any weather shopping... If it snows ... I can still shop... if it rains or too hot.. I still can shop. Also.. I have seen enough malls around my country and in other counties... that the architecture of the culture is amazing... I love the difference I have seen in Bogor, Bandung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabya, Bali... Singapore, Thailand.. amazing cultural style and input.... Many malls are co-habitant with nature or environment..... But the best part as an Anthropologist is the people... so many and diverse.. love it!!! Aside from capitalistic ideas.. of advertising and selling.. that is in the street markets as well or the China market that every large city has.. Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston... Jakarta, Singapore.. Mexico City.. they all have their Asian/Chinese markets... Personally I love Surabaya... Less trash and litter... It didn't seem as polluted as Jakarta... traffic not as bad.. but still bad... and the food is wonderful... Better yet.. the smaller city of nice people.. Surabaya people were very friendly to me.... and so was Jakarta... and Bali and Bogor and Yogyakarta.. etc. because If am friendly ... the people are most likely to respond... And finally... I prefer the old fashion market place... as a tourist.. it is nostalgic and historical... but if it ever got too hot too wet.. find me a Starbucks.. which is usually in a mall... And will recover just fine... Terima Kasih.. jim
Jim : You are lucky to have seen the differences in many places, I hope I will soon too. It's always interesting to talk about culture, whether or not people from different parts of the world react the same to the same situations, how they interact to each other, etc. I don't know, but I think going to malls early won't likely often happen on Lombok or Bali. They offer more choices or what I call as "killing time activities" and of human interaction activities; going to the beaches to wind surf and meet people, going to some tourist attractions to meet people. They do still need malls of course as they are today's market places. Some of my friends live on Bali, and I am connected to them on Facebook. It makes me smile how they update their status early in the morning and say like this " So fresh! lying down on a beach and walking around the city in Kuta, Bali." while my other friends who live in Surabaya say " Relaxing at Galaxy mall" hehe. And good news for you! I do think that each mall here does have SB:D ( when you are talking about more modern malls.)
I think friendly people always melt other people's hearts, whatsoever. just like you did with our hearts. Makasih Jim!
I loved the souk type markets in Morocco. We have a "flea market" here that is the same concept and I prefer that over the mall any day, just for the atmosphere. Maybe it's nostalgia for me, or something new. I remember when I was little my father taking us to the farmer's market to buy huge chunks of longhorn cheese. I think the souk markets in Morocco are appealing because they are exotic to me.
Definitely sarcasm. Personally I hate malls and rarely go to one, so I wouldn't make a good Indonesian. Very educational piece though. 
