Day 4.


Project Day 1. The temperature is rising. 

On the schedule is the city tour all around the city to get known Surabaya a little bit better. So to say, must see for tourists) We walked around the city hall, found a secret bunker for the governors, visited the city museum, the Heroes Monument and the museum under it. Actually I like museums, but I'm not sure if they really arise your interest. One of the them is in a very unusual way combined with a kind of a administrative office for citizens of the city. And now just imagine... The exhausted in a waiting line Indonesians and happy oversee students running by. So many interested eyes staring at you I have not seen for a while )) The most valuable point on this excursion was that we always had our amazing local volunteers nearby who had an answer to each stupid question) 

In front of the city hall

The puppet theatre from Surabaya. In the museum of Surabaya

By the way Indonesia is the biggest republic in the world where most people are Islamic. There're 255 Mil people living in the country. Most of them are on Java. Just the agglomeration of Jakarta is populated by over (attention!) 30 Mil people. The city lies on the same island, just in its Western part. Surabaya is the second largest city with the population 3,5 Mil people. A very important economical centre and the capital city of the region East Java.

The mayor of Surabaya is a woman. The only one in the administration office of the region. The locals regard her as a very firm and strong woman. At the same time they are proud of her and hope that some day she will lead the country. Tri Rismaharini helped the city to get rid of prostitution what the city was obsessed of by creating new jobs and improved the infrastructure.

In any case the Heroes Monument is worthy of our attention. As a piece of art it is not that important but it serves as a reminder on the fight   of Indonesians for their independence. 1949 Indonesia got independent from the Dutch colonization which lasted over 200 years.

The Heroes Monument

A pure shock was awaiting me at the Tobacco Museum. It's not a secret that Indonesia is famous for its tobacco. But I couldn't even guess that by now the production of cigarettes is supposed to be manual to keep the quality. The cigarettes here are pretty cheap and have a very intensive smell and smoke what stands for their quality. And yes. They are really produces manually. My God! At the museum you can watch over the manufactory. Just imagine! A huge hall with at least 400 people there bending over the tables and rolling the cigarettes. There are only women in the hall except one, because the women are mire productive than the men. In an hour one worker rolls on average 320 cigarettes. 320! The working day is 7 hours with on break for a lunch. The workers sit on plastic chairs. And roll the cigarettes. Every day. 6 hours. Every day! And some of them already for an uncountable amount of years. Getting 3 Mil Rp a month (about 241 Euro). The salary depends on the amount of the rolled cigarettes. Do you want to earn more? Roll more.

At the Tobacco Museum

I realized that I shouldn't have complained on my job and the salary.

That's it.