LIVING IN (NOT FOR) JAKARTA

Downtown Jakarta view from our apartment building's rooftop on a pretty clear day.

Once again I find myself delinquent in keeping this blog updated.  It’s not because we haven’t been getting out there and doing things – we definitely have!  And this blog will catch us up through the first part of this year.  But for some reason, our assignment in Jakarta - more than the others - has been exhausting. 

Maybe it’s because my work has been a churn of official visitors and constant on-ness, and Andrew’s schedule has been awkward and disjointed as he’s tried to keep working U.S. hours from the other side of the world.  Maybe it’s because living in Jakarta takes more energy too.  From dealing with the traffic, to the heat, to the crowds, to the air pollution… getting out to run a simple errand is anything but simple.  I’ve found it takes me a full weekend just to recover and recharge for the next week.  We’ve found it’s imperative for our sanity that we always have something on the calendar – from a long weekend to a full-blown vacation – to get us out of Jakarta and able to really unwind.  Or maybe it’s because this is our first 3-year post.  At our other posts so far, by now we’d be in the throes of wrapping up, packing out, and moving on.  But here, we’re trying to psych ourselves up and rally for one more year.  Three years is a long time to be away from family and friends, to miss celebrating birthdays and other special occasions in-person rather than on Zoom, and to try to make a “home” in a completely different place.  On the bright side, our apartment building and its amenities make life a little more enjoyable, we’ve made some good friends here, and we’ve found a few spots within walking distance to blow off mid-week steam.  So… onward!

Sadly, this is often what we see from our living room.  Last August, Jakarta had the worst air quality in the world.  Most days, it's in the top 10.  Yuck.

This is the view from the rooftop of our apartment building when we do have a clear day.  "The mountain is out!"

Celebrating Chinese new year on the grounds of our apartment building.  These dancer/acrobats put on a great show. 

The grounds of our apartment building are the closest thing to a park that I've seen... and it's a welcome respite from the chaos of Jakarta.

Diplomacy action shot.  Here I am making remarks at a Women's History Month event at the embassy.  This was a photo display we had up for the month honoring women in the Foreign Service.  It included a photo of my great-grandmother Ruth Bryan Owen, who was the first female Chief of Mission.  As busy as this job is, it is definitely the coolest job EVER.

An Argentine steak house - and easily one of our favorite restaurants in Jakarta - is about a 20-minute walk from our apartment.  They have a trivia night there once a month... and we are the reigning champions.  One of our mid-week stress-reliever go-to activities.

In January, we took advantage of a U.S. holiday when the rest of Jakarta was working to take the train to a suburb about an hour south called Bogor where there is a botanic garden that we’d heard rave reviews about.  In looking at the map, it seemed the train station in Bogor was right across the street from the garden.  Easy peasy, right?  But no.  In typical Indonesian fashion, while the train station is, in fact, right across the street from the garden, the entrance is on the other side of the garden.  The President of Indonesia maintains a residence adjacent to the garden, so the whole thing is fenced in.  One way in, one way out… and that one way is on the opposite side of the garden from the station.  Why make things too easy?  So, we trudged around the park, and about 30-minutes and a fully sweat-soaked shirt later, we arrived.  Once inside, the park was beautiful!  Well maintained, well signed, well organized, GREEN!  A win!  And bonus… it was relatively quiet since it was a regular weekday for Indonesia.  We walked around the gardens, had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the grounds, got caught in a short surprise torrential downpour, and then headed back to the station (in a cab – enough walking in 90+ degree heat and humidity for one day).  But definitely a welcome distraction to be around trees and greenery for a day.

 

Huge trees!  Open space!  Our day trip to the Bogor botanic gardens was a welcome breath of fresh(er) air.

Even a tinge of blue in the sky!

Then later in January we had a REAL vacation.  Andrew headed to Melbourne mid-month and I joined him a bit later for a couple weeks.  We were fortunate that Andrew’s friends who had gone on vacation let us stay at their house and – bonus! – dog-sit their year-old golden retriever.  We really had no itinerary or must-see list.  We just kind of played things by ear, and it was a fantastic break from Jakarta!  We went on a couple walking tours of downtown Melbourne, took a day-trip to do some hiking, caught up with Andrew’s dad, sister and friends, ate a ton of delicious food, played with their goofy dog, and generally just… relaxed.  Ahhhh.  It was a welcome, refreshing change of scenery, and I spent as much time outside as I could to take in all the fresh air and blue sky. 

In between all the outdoor time in Melbourne, we snuck in a Broadway show - Moulin Rouge!

Our charge for two weeks, Humphrey.  Destruction count: one blanket, two squeaky toys, one sock... two hearts.

Day trip outside Melbourne for some hiking and wine tasting - two of my favorite things!

Andrew has taught me just enough about cricket that I graduated to watch a game at the Melbourne Cricket Club.

Those black dots in the trees are fruit bats, AKA flying foxes - and actually more closely related to foxes than bats.  It was breeding season and they'd set up shop along the Yarra River.  Their rookery was about a 30-minute walk from the house where we were staying, so it became my daily routine to take a walk along the river and go check in on them.

In coming to Jakarta, we knew we’d be in for something totally different.  A new culture, climate, pace of life, food, sights and sounds…  I was open to all of it – and I still am.  But I didn’t realize just how much I value the outdoors – and being able to be in it – until that wasn’t really an option.  I do walk to work here – but it’s an adventure sport of dodging motor scooters, broken sewer covers, and cars parked on the sidewalk.  It’s not the same.  So with a year left here, we’ll try to get our fill of southeast Asia before it’s time to move on to greener pastures.