Semarang - Demak

“A tough girl!” commented one driver working for Bank Jateng Demak when he saw me preparing myself to ride my dearest motorcycle in the parking lot, after finishing giving English training to some employees of Bank Jateng Demak last Thursday 21 February 2008. It was raining cats and dogs outside.
For your information, it is around 35 kilometers from my home to the office building of Bank Jateng Demak located on Jalan Sultan Trenggono Demak, some meters on the South of the Great Mosque built by Sunan Kalijaga. I usually need around 45 minutes by motorcycle, with the speed around 60-80 kilometers per hour. However, to go home, I need a longer time since the road from Demak to Semarang is not as smooth as the road from Semarang to Demak. I cannot speed around 60-80 kilometers on my way home. One employee of Bank Jateng Demak told me that the road from Semarang to Demak was one heritage from the Dutch Colonial government. (Remember the history lesson you got at school, Daendels inhumanely forced Indonesian people to work to build a very long road from Anyer to Panaruka from 1808 till 1811.) Meanwhile, the road from Demak to Semarang was built during Soeharto era. The condition of this new road is even worse than the one built in the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Because of the rainy season, on my way back to Semarang by motorcycle, I saw the different condition of the road clearly. Look at the picture below.

A workmate jokingly said to me, “The road from Demak to Semarang is not like ‘Kaligarang’ Ma’am, but it is like ‘kaligaring’.” (NOTE: ‘Kaligarang is a name of one river in Semarang. Kaligaring means a dry river. Imagine the condition of the surface of a dry river at the bottom.)
What conclusion can you draw? Not much corruption done during the Dutch colonial government. During Soeharto era? You say it.
Last Thursday was the third time I had to go home from Demak to Semarang by motorcycle in the heavy rain. I am tough? Ask my dearest Abang for that. LOL.
To be the breadwinner is absolutely not a piece of cake. And women surely can do it as well as men. And I am very proud to do it for myself, and for my only Lovely Star.
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