Culture Shock in a Local Hotel
> By : Myra Sidharta <
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Culture Shock in a Local Hotel |
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> By : Myra Sidharta < |
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My friend Nora has a great affinity with hotels. Every time a new four or five star hotel is opened in Jakarta - and there are may of them since the last decade - she has to try it out. She may be the only person in the world who has stayed in all the hotels of Jakarta. She does it all as a personal choice and can always find hundreds of reasons to move into a hotel. Besides that the hotel is new, she may have to move because there are renovations going on in her house. Sometimes it is because she is so very busy preparing her lectures or seminar papers, that she does not want to be disturbed by phone calls or unexpected visitors. However, staying in a hotel room can be very lonesome and Nora always asks a relative or friend to accompany her at least for the night. Once I was the lucky one. I am the kind of people who rather sleep in my own bed than to toss around trying to fall asleep in strange one, but obliged anyway for being with Nora is usually a unique experience. The hotel lobby was very crowded. People came to check in, mostly foreigners, for I heard strange languages and strange accents and had the feeling of being in a foreign country. It was also crowded for it was lunch time and apparently people had arranged appointments to meet in one of the restaurants. There were many people waiting for the elevator, mostly children and once inside, they fought to press the button. I remember my friend saying, that he often takes his children to a hotel to stay for the holidays, so that they can get used to the environment. "To prevent them from getting a culture shock, when they have to stay in a hotel or go to foreign countries." He told me. He was right. I remembered that years ago I sent my driver to an office in one of the high-rise buildings. I told him to take the elevator to the eighth floor, but I did not explain to him how the elevator worked. Of course he did not know. He entered the elevator to wait for the magic to happen. Somebody came in and went to one of the floors, so he thought he had arrived. But no he was only on the fourth floor and in the end he decided to walk up the stairs. However, judging by the behavior of these children, the culture shock is all over and they seemed to be socializing well. I went straight to my friend's room and there she was in her bed watching TV. "It's so wonderful," she said, "I can see all the old movies here, isn't it fun?" "No big deal," I thought, but kept on watching anyway. It was a movie of the fifties, one of those without bedroom scenes, but yet very entertaining. Halfway through, she asked me what I wanted to eat and read to me what we could get from the room service. "They have a good choice here," she commented, "you know, the room service menu is the clue to make a guest feel at home in a hotel." She has a point there, I thought, for the meal she ordered was delicious. The meal was finished by the time the movie was finished and soon we found ourselves dozing off. When I woke up, I thought, I had enough of the room and went out for a walk. Nora did not want to join me for she admitted to me, she had brought some work that she had to finish. I truly enjoyed the beautiful hotel garden, and pitied Nora that she had to work instead. However when I returned, she was watching another movie. I had no choice than to watch it with her, although I too, had brought some work to do. But the movie was too exciting, a thriller with many banging cars moving at high speed along the roads. When it was time for dinner, it was the room service again that we called. Before it arrived a visitor came. It was Nora's maid with food from home. It all looked so delicious, that we decided to cancel the room-service. However it was not possible, because the waiter had just left to deliver it at our room. So what to do? A solution was quickly found: the hotel food was packed in the containers from home and the maid took it home, whereas we enjoyed the home cooking. After the meal we went to sleep again. Of course I had problems falling asleep. I tossed and turned and tried to read but to no avail. It was almost morning when I finally did, but woke up soon afterwards because Nora was on the phone. She contacted several of her friends and asked them to accompany her. She knew that I would not like to stay another night because of my sleeping problems. They came immediately and very soon we chatted about the latest gossips in town. We had leftovers from the previous night dinner for brunch which we warmed on a stove that Yati brought along. Soon the room looked more like a lunchroom than a bedroom. After the lunch I packed up and went home, for Nora had enough company now. However before I left the hotel I had to undergo my own little culture shock. When I entered the lobby to wait for my car, three cars arrived and out came what seemed to me a few families: adults an children, some seven or eight of them with a nanny for each child. That was not the culture shock to me though, for the phenomena of the one child-one nanny ratio was not new to me. it belongs to the extravagance of the jet-set crowd in Indonesia. What shocked me was the luggage that was unloaded. Amongst them were a pile of guling, (bolsters or Dutch wives) one for each person may be. Seeing my stunned face, one of the nannies giggled and said: "Well they all need to bring their own guling, that makes them feel at home, without it they can not fall asleep." So that was the clue, bring your guling where ever you go, so you do not have to toss and turn in bed, like I did. It is known that celebrities like to bring their favorite things with them when they travel. They usually include family photographs etc. and for the late Audrey Hepburn it was her pepper and salt shakers. But mine will be more sensational, for it will be my guling! I am now waiting for Nora's next invitation to keep her company in a hotel again, for I will be there, guling and all. |
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