Posts by Kurt Mastrovich
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Amazing discussion. I don't always read all the comments on here but I always read every post.
I find almost everything written in the post and the comments resonates with me. Home is alternately something I at times struggle with but sometimes feel completely comfortable about
I'm a 3rd generation NZer of Croatian and German descent. For all of my 31 years my parents have lived in the same house in Gisborne they built before I, the oldest of 2 was born. While their stability and their untold dedication to their sons has been a guiding force in my life I could not wait to flee the nest and head to Palmerston North for university after high school.
In Palmerston North after a year in the halls in 5 years of uni and work I moved 6 times before packing up and moving to Indonesia. In Indonesia I initially moved between Medan, Jakarta and various towns in West Papua before being permanently based for 5 years in Sentani, West Papua. West Papua very much felt like home inasmuch as that was what I called home when I was travelling which my roster afforded me plenty of time to do.
I now find "home" to be Lyon, France where after finishing my time in Indonesia it just worked out to align by accident with my partner starting her masters degree. We have a tiny apartment in a great area and after 7 stressful years in Indonesia and mostly West Papua I'm starting to get a new sense of myself.
At the minute I'm sitting here in Gisborne, in that house my parents built that has provided me so much stability. I am always in awe of the life they created where they have sacrificed so much for my brother and I. They'll never leave Gisborne and probably not this house but they love their annual trips to Queenstown and are even thinking of coming to visit Europe (my brother after 2 years in Japan now lives in London).
So I have a few "homes" I guess with Tūranga/Gisborne being my Tūrangawaewae. But while I'll always feel comfortable at Mum and Dad's, Gisborne, as amazing as it is, is not really home and hasn't been for 13 years. Our little apartment in Lyon even though it is temporary is home I guess. But only because that's where my partner is and the shock of recent events while we are on opposite sides of the world is driving that - wait for it, home, even more.
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Kurt, selamat datang teman, dan bahagia hari kemerdekaan. What's the sentiment like in Jayapura today - I'm guessing there are a lot of people unenthusiastic about official celebrations?
Terima kasih banyak. Just got 'home' this morning and the airport is of course decked out in merah dan putih. Sentani always seems to miss out on the action but there has been some violence in Mulia and Wamena recently and then of course the death threats to journalists in Merauke. Nabire can also be a bit of a hotbed at times but so far all seems quiet on the eastern front. Rampant un-enthusiasm in these parts is not necessarly a bad thing.
Bizarrely, I quite like JKT, but only for brief periods (3-5 days maximum).
To be fair at times I do actually enjoy it, the abundance of Sushi Tei outlets is a big plus. An MRT connecting them all would please me greatly but so much of my time in Jakarta is spent in the back seat of a taxi and its just a bit soul-destroying :).
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I think a K'Rd station and thus a city loop makes an inordinate amount of sense. It would also future-proof to some extent the PT network, again makes sense. But that will of course be its downfall.
As it stands at the moment I enjoy getting a rental car when I'm home and buzzing around Auckland. But I realise that is a small snapshot and things are only going to get worse.
I just got back to Indonesia after 10 days in Bangkok and made use of the BTS (Skytrain) and MRT and both are excellent. Apparently the MRT makes a loss while the BTS is profit-making but it seems as though the MRT network is a little limited and there is scope for more stations to make it more usable (at least from a tourist viewpoint, and there were lots of them around).
I have done about 10 trips to Singapore in the last 2 and a bit years and it was my favourite city (now second to Hong Kong) largely because of the fantastic MRT system. You can conceivably walk above ground short distances between stations in the areas Simon listed. In some cases you can remain underground in air-conditioned comfort (its all about options and spreading the flow).
Don't get me started on Jakarta. Its what I think Auckland will be like in 40 years time after the apocalypse. I hate that city with a passion that border's on insanity. But Auckland can learn much from the hideous mess that is the Big Durian. There seems to be increasing discussion on the idea of moving the capital, possibly to another island in an attempt to help ease congestion. An MRT is planned (although so was a monorail in the early 00's and since abandoned) from memory service entry is set for 2015. One major problem I see is the fact that the city is sinking under its own weight at the rate of 10cm per year!
Auckland, while it will never get to a scale of the Asian Tiger cities can learn a lot from the varied experience and achieve a realistic PT system. Next step that city loop eh.