The Daily Commute
Think about this the next time you're cursing people stopping for air balloons in Canberra, or driving to work on the Don Vally Parking Lot, wondering about the irony in the name "Go" train as you wait for it to come, or just sitting in a crowded bus with people that need to bathe more often.
I was asking the I.T. guy I hired, Ikhwan, about life before the tsunami when the rebels and the government were still fighting. He used to work at a cement company in Lho'nga (Lok-nah), an hour or so down the coast from Aceh. He said...
"Sometimes you would be driving home and have to just stop and sleep at the side of the road because the TNI (government) and GAM (rebels) were shooting at each other, so you couldn't get through."
The fact that this was delivered in a sort of "well, y'know, it happens" kind of tone was even more strange.
He then said it was nice now after the tsunami, and with all the foreigners and the peace agreement because you could go out for dinner or just sit around in the city and not have to worry about someone running by and an explosion occurring somewhere.
On the downside, he lost about 9 people including his sister and her family. It is interesting, because, generally, eventhough people have lost a lot of family, they appreciate the changes in the life & lifestyle that have happened since the tsunami and the peace agreement. There's a lot of acceptance of things past, and in public at least, not a lot of dwelling on the events....
I was asking the I.T. guy I hired, Ikhwan, about life before the tsunami when the rebels and the government were still fighting. He used to work at a cement company in Lho'nga (Lok-nah), an hour or so down the coast from Aceh. He said...
"Sometimes you would be driving home and have to just stop and sleep at the side of the road because the TNI (government) and GAM (rebels) were shooting at each other, so you couldn't get through."
The fact that this was delivered in a sort of "well, y'know, it happens" kind of tone was even more strange.
He then said it was nice now after the tsunami, and with all the foreigners and the peace agreement because you could go out for dinner or just sit around in the city and not have to worry about someone running by and an explosion occurring somewhere.
On the downside, he lost about 9 people including his sister and her family. It is interesting, because, generally, eventhough people have lost a lot of family, they appreciate the changes in the life & lifestyle that have happened since the tsunami and the peace agreement. There's a lot of acceptance of things past, and in public at least, not a lot of dwelling on the events....
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