THE HONEYMOON PHASE

They say there are four “phases of expatriation” that folks moving abroad experience as they settle into a new environment and culture.  The first phase, in which newly arrived expats feel an excitement and euphoria that comes with starting a new adventure in a new country, is the honeymoon phase.  This definitely is our current phase.  Sure, there have been some bumps in the road – especially trying to figure out how to get set up with a local phone and all the apps needed to transact on this highly electronic economy, and getting up to speed with new processes and systems in the new job.  But for the most part, we have been absorbing and enjoying our first look at a city unlike any in which we have lived before.  

First off, apartment living.  Except for our short-term stints for training in Washington, I haven’t lived in an apartment since I was in grad school.  We’ve now moved into what will be our permanent housing for the rest of our three years here – an apartment on the 10^th floor of a 40-story high rise.  I’ll give some more details about our apartment in a future post, but for now, suffice it to say, we are feeling very urban chic in this brand new apartment building with all its bells and whistles.

The view from our apartment.  Happy to have some trees and greenery in view.

One of two pools on the property.  The other is rooftop.  Not too shabby.

Enjoying a sunset happy hour with our neighbors (and my work colleagues).  It's like we have a personal sky bar on the roof of our building.

Our building is in a part of central Jakarta called Menteng.  It’s a short 15-minute walk to the embassy and to all sorts of malls and street food stalls.  Or if we don’t feel like walking (or if it’s just too hot or smoggy), it a $2 cab ride.  I’m very much appreciating the ability to get places on foot, because the traffic is no joke.  We don’t have a car here – and don’t plan on getting one since the taxis are so cheap… and since I have zero interest in trying to drive in Jakarta’s traffic.  

The Sarinah Mall at the end of our block put on a cultural show to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day on August 17.  

The street in back of our building turns into an outdoor food market every evening.  Makes dinner a snap!

The embassy has a “Community Liaison Office” (CLO) which does a lot of work to help embassy families settle in and keep entertained.  A couple weeks ago, the CLO planned a day trip to Pari Island – one of the “Thousand Islands” chain about an hour boat ride from Jakarta.  Pari Island is one of many of those islands that have tourist facilities for people looking to get out of Jakarta for the day or weekend.  We signed up and headed out along with about 15 colleagues and spent the day lounging on the sand and going for our first snorkel.  Considering it’s so close to Jakarta, the snorkeling was surprisingly good with lots of coral and fish.  The trip was a month to the day from our arrival in Jakarta and it was a welcome change of pace and scenery.

Pulling out of the marina on our way to Pari Island.

We passed a lot of local fishermen in super colorful boats en route.

On-island transportation was a kind of golf-cart-meets-tuk-tuk-meets-pickup-truck.

Enjoying the sand... and the shade.

The island-goers.

A couple weeks later, we went on another CLO-sponsored event – a walking tour of Jakarta’s Chinatown.  We spent about 3 hours with a tour guide getting led through the streets of Chinatown, learning about the history of Chinese Indonesians, and sampling a few local snacks.

The Chinatown entry gate.

We walked by - and through - some of Chinatown's old churches and temples.

They preserved this old Chinese house... but built a huge apartment building around and over it.

Some of the elaborate decor inside the shrines we walked through.

No shortage of candles or incense here.

A typical scene of scooter parking - and omnipresent red and white bunting.  Not sure if there is extra red and white everywhere because of Independence Day... or if it's always on display.

Vendors set up along the narrow streets.

Not much room on these narrow alleys - but that doesn't keep the scooters from inching their way through.

We happened upon a parade along our walking tour route.

Love the costumes and pageantry!

No giant helium balloons... but there were these.

Parade float - Indonesian-style.

Wrapping up the tour by sampling some local tea.

We also joined my colleague (and our apartment neighbor) for a trip about an hour and a half southeast of Jakarta to an area called Sentul.  The area is popular for its hills, rivers, and hiking trails, and it made for a fun day out of the city.  We hired a driver to get us out there – which was key, since the road was questionably 1-lane but was serving 2-way traffic.  The trip to the trailhead was an adventure in and of itself.

Happy to be in the back seat... and not be driving.

Views of rice paddies along the way.

We passed through some very lush vegetation and local villages as we neared the trail head.

Blue sky and greenery!  Such a welcome sight!

On the trail.

A stop to enjoy the shade of a bamboo forest.

A pretty trail along a babbling stream.  It's like I'm in the northwest again!  Except it's a humid 90-ish degrees.

First waterfall sighting in Indonesia!

Celebrating a successful hike with some local fare on the way back to Jakarta.

So, for now at least, all the sights and experiences in our honeymoon phase are still new and exciting.  The next phase will be “culture shock” – and we’ve already had some previews of that.  I mean, we are in a completely different culture, so it’s to be expected.  But for now, we’re taking it all in and looking forward to the next new discoveries.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 Since Jakarta is fully halfway around the world from Washington DC, we decided to make our way to southeast Asia by heading west… to Hawaii.  It was a fitting end to our time in the US since Hawaii is where we’d started our time in the US last year.  We were also happy to take full advantage of the chance to relax for a couple of weeks after the frenzy of packing up our lives in Washington… and ahead of the whirlwind we knew would await us in Indonesia.  We got our fill of surf and sand, rainbows, and poke bowls to hold us over until next time.

I made sure to appreciate the rainbows and blue sky...

...and the sunsets.  This was our last one before we left the US.

From there, it was an 8 hour flight to Tokyo and then another 8 hour flight to Jakarta.  It was a long day that ended with us checking into our temporary apartment about 2 in the morning.  And it was a short night as we were awoken at 4:45am by the call to prayer broadcast over loudspeakers from the mosque next door.  Indonesia has a Muslim majority, and there is no shortage of mosques here – and there are five prayer times a day that start before sunrise and end about an hour after sunset.  I guess the good news is, you don’t really need a watch since the mosques help you keep track of the time.

Some other first impressions from our first few weeks in Jakarta:

- Shopping malls are everywhere.  They are huge and have everything from grocery stores to restaurants to high-end retail stores.  As much as I am not a shopper or mall person, the malls are air conditioned – which I greatly appreciate – and have been interesting to wander around and get lost in. 

The indoor shopping malls are Jakarta's answer to Las Vegas.

Andrew exploring space in virtual reality... in a shopping mall.

A refreshing iced coffee in a lovely coffee shop with lots of plants... in a shopping mall.

- Sky bars make for some lovely happy hour spots.  It’s no secret that the air quality in Jakarta is some of the worst in the world.  But we’ve had a couple of clear-er days that lent themselves well to enjoying the outside at a rooftop bar.  Also, the temporary apartment where we are staying until our permanent apartment is ready (hopefully next week) is on the 13^th floor, so we’ve got a pretty nice skyline view from here too.  After Belize and Zimbabwe, it’s a bit of a change to see so many skyscrapers… everywhere. 

Our skyline view on a clear night.

Our first happy hour - and first rooftop bar experience - was also an especially clear day.

Alas, this is a more typical air quality situation.

- Jakarta – at least, the part of Jakarta where is are – is surprisingly green.  There aren’t really many parks, per se, but there are street trees and "green walls” – sides of buildings or other infrastructure that have a green exoskeleton of plants.  I was expecting a vast sea of concrete and asphalt to surround us, so the amount of greenery has been a welcome surprise. 

I walked by this tanker truck watering this pillar of plants on my way to work.

This giant tree - complete with roosting parrots - is on the embassy compound.  A welcome surprise to see so many trees - and birds! - in the midst of this giant city.

- The traffic is no joke, but somehow it just… works.  With so many cars and scooters on the road, somehow they’ve all worked out their own rules of the road.  Almost all the cars are new, clean, and in meticulous condition.  How they don’t crash into each other in the mayhem, I have no idea.  And on Sunday mornings, one of the main roads in central Jakarta is closed to cars for “car-free Sundays.”  Instead of cars, the road is filled with bicyclists, joggers, walkers, people selling food and drinks, playing music… it’s like a carnival.

This is the road they shut down for car-free Sunday mornings.  We did it last Sunday - but note to self: Start early before it gets too hot!

- The food is awesome!  This one wasn’t so much a surprise – I knew we’d get some great food here – but it’s no less welcome.  Admittedly, we still have a lot to learn and discover when it comes to the food here, but what we’ve found so far has all been fantastic.

With three years ahead of us here, and with my job already being ridiculously busy, we’ve been pacing ourselves as far as getting out to explore.  But we’re looking forward to seeing what else we find as we start to settle into life here.  More impressions to come!