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!

THIS AMERICAN LIFE: A YEAR IN REVIEW

And suddenly it’s been almost a year back in ‘Merica. Somehow, the months have just kept rolling by. I hardly noticed the time passing… other than the weather, which went from sweltering humidity when we arrived in DC last August, to arctic tundra in the first months of 2022, and now back to the muggy heat again.

A stroll around the DC sights early on during our time here - and complete with face masks.

My “job” while we've been in DC has been mainly to “learn” to speak and read Indonesian. Getting paid to go to school? I mean, that’s not a bad gig. But it’s been intense. Beginning in September, I had daily instruction with a teacher and a few colleagues, and then “self-study” assignments and homework. It’s like I’m in college again, except every class is the same. Every day. All week. For nine months. And, except most of my training has been online. It’s been a slog. 

View from the bottom...

...and the top of the Washington Monument.  Quite a view from up there!

Before I returned to DC last August, we all hoped COVID was behind us and we would soon be back to “normal” – including the State Department, which mandated all employees must report back to Washington DC for training so we’d be ready to attend in-person classes as soon as the coast was clear. But as reality set in that this pandemic was not done yet, my “classroom” remained a weird little windowless room off the kitchen of our 1-bedroom apartment. I dubbed this glorified closet “the language lab.” Meanwhile, Andrew has also been working from home. His “office” is our dining table. We’ve definitely been winging it. 

We tried to get out of our little apartment as much as possible.  We didn't have a car but were able to keep ourselves quite entertained with DC's assortment of museums and monuments.

But what is really nice about long-term training is that, in general, my evenings and weekends are free. No late nights, frenzied deadlines, or turns on the duty phone* that come with overseas embassy jobs. That’s given us lots of time and opportunity to reconnect with family and friends – both the 2-legged and 4-legged variety – from California, Portland, DC, Belize, and Zimbabwe. So wonderful to celebrate birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions with lots of people we haven’t seen for awhile! 

*All officers rotate through week-long assignments as “duty officer.” During that week, in addition to our day jobs, duty officers remain on-call after hours to answer calls from U.S. citizens who have an “emergency.” What has become been clear from my duty officer experiences to date is that Americans think everything is an emergency. Alas, most calls are, in fact, not a major crisis, and the answer is usually, “Please call back tomorrow during normal business hours.” Another category of calls includes things that are what I describe as self-imposed emergencies. These include Americans who have made bad decisions – gotten arrested, run out of money, gone off their meds, all of the above – and now need the U.S. government to fix their problem, usually sometime between midnight and 5am. I’m looking at you, Belize. Then, there are the actual emergencies. If it’s a policeman on the other end of the duty phone, it’s going to be a long night. I got duty calls about U.S. citizens who’d been in car accidents, had strokes, died, been murdered... I’m looking at you again, Belize. So yeah, it’s been nice to not be duty officer for over a year.

So fun to get together so many friends who passed through DC from all over the world, including Zimbabwe...

...and California...

...and Belize...

...and from right here in DC!  A highlight of our time here for sure has been seeing all these fine folks again.

And, of course, we also got to reunite with many of our favorite 4-legged friends too, like Mokum!

We’ve also revisited favorite stomping grounds, museums, bars, and restaurants, and found some new ones. And I didn’t realize how much I missed the changing seasons, especially when the northeast hardwoods donned their best autumn colors and the cherry blossoms worked their magic. It’s been fun to be here again to see all of that again. 

Autumn put on quite a show.

One of about six snow storms that hit us this winter. We almost needed an ice axe to use the crosswalks.

But the cherry blossoms in the spring make it all worth it.

We also sprinkled in several side trips over long holiday weekends, including Philadelphia, New York City, Chapel Hill, Tampa, and even Merida, Mexico. (A perk of this job is meeting so many awesome people who end up living all over the world. We’ll never run out of places to visit!) 

A ladies weekend getaway to Merida, Mexico in January was a great way to beat the winter chill.

We got in a quick weekend trip to NYC too to see a couple Broadway shows, play tourist... and catch COVID.  (We're both back to 100% now, but that was definitely not the souvenir I'd envisioned.)

And we got to mark the holidays with a full dose of Americana, including a trip to Harpers Ferry with my parents over Thanksgiving, and a Christmas and New Year’s celebration at our friends’ 200+ year-old stone house in rural Virginia. 

The houses in our neighborhood put on quite the Halloween displays!

A (zbsolutely freezing) day in Harpers Ferry with my parents during their Thanksgiving visit with us.

Some holiday festivities in DC...

... and then Christmas and New Years at our friend's circa-1780s house in rural Virginia.  

But all good (and not so good) things must come to an end, and so too does our time here. Tomorrow we'll leave DC for a little rest and recuperation in Hawaii before we make our way on to Jakarta, Indonesia at the beginning of July. We were also able to squeeze in one more quick trip to Portland last month to make the rounds with family and friends there before we set off. This is always the hardest part of this job. As much as I’m tired of the almost year-long training, and the cramped apartment, and the routine… and as much as I’m looking forward to a new job, and uncharted territory, and a fresh start… I always get a lump in my throat leading up to our actual departure. Leaving behind the known, and the comfortable, and many of the people I love is never easy. But having Andrew by my side to be a familiar face and a reassuring voice strengthens my resolve. It’s not an easy transition for him either, having to figure out how to get up and running with his job in a dramatically different time zone every few years. I’ll always be grateful that he agreed to go on this crazy ride with me. 

And with that, our latest installment of This American Life comes to a close, and the first episode of This Indonesian Life will soon begin. Stay tuned for the first chapter, coming soon! 

See you in Indonesia!

HOME(LESS) LEAVE

Foreign service officers are required to return to the U.S. at the completion of each overseas tour for a minimum of 20 days to reacquaint themselves with their home country.  We call it “home leave” – but those in the ranks tend to refer to it as “homeless leave” because it’s not as if we have a physical “home” to return to.  After our Belize tour, we spent several weeks in Portland, couch-surfing with friends who would have us, dog- and house-sitting for others, and generally living a migratory existence out of a suitcase for the better part of a month.  This time, we did things differently.

Oregonians and others know this iconic PDX carpet.  Definitely a sign that I'm home.

First, after surviving the 40-hour trip back from Harare*, we spent two weeks in Portland in an Airbnb.  When we first started planning our leave, we weren’t sure if we’d be vaccinated, or need to quarantine, or what the COVID rules du jour may be, so we figured we’d play it safe with a space of our own.  We found a 1-bedroom basement apartment.  At first, I wasn’t too sure how I’d feel living like a mole person.  Then I realized how coveted our basement spread would become as we experienced the first (of TWO) 100+ degree heat waves while we were there.  In a city where A/C is not commonplace, that basement apartment turned out to be just the spot to beat the heat.  In between stints of hiding from the scorching earth in our subterranean apartment, we were able to get in some visits with family and friends, hikes around Portland, and LOTS of Tex-Mex food.  (A favorite of mine that was decidedly absent in Zimbabwe.)

* Our trip back from Harare really deserves a post in and of itself.  It was nothing less than a miracle that after a journey of four legs (Harare-Johannesburg-Paris-Atlanta-Portland), we arrived on time AND with all our luggage.  Our flight from Paris was an hour late, leaving us less than 45 minutes to get our bags, clear customs, recheck our bags, go back through security, and get to our gate in Atlanta.  I credit the heroic efforts by airport staff and complete strangers in Atlanta for pulling this off.  The slightly crazed look in our road-weary eyes may have helped a tad too.

The roses were in full glory in Washington Park.

Catching up - and rehydrating - with friends.  A great way to survive a heatwave.

Next, we headed to Hawaii for an actual vacation.  We started off on Oahu, meeting up with our friends Joe and Michele for a few days to kick off our rest and relaxation.  While seemingly the entirety of the U.S. decided to vacation in Waikiki at the same time as us, we were able to find some quieter spots on the west shore.  

A Santa Cruz reunion in Hawaii with Joe & Michele.

Just looking at that view makes me go "ahhhhh..."

And then we headed to the big island and met our friends Meg and Chris there to wrap up our vacay.  This was my first trip to the big island, and let me just say, it is FANTASTIC!  The crowds that had swarmed Oahu had not found their way there – or there was more space to accommodate them – and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to see all the sights.  We swam in amazingly clear water, hiked through volcanoes and lava tubes, saw dozens of sea turtles lounging beachside, took in some incredible sunsets… drank many mai tais.  It was everything I’d hoped it would be, and it was some down time that we both desperately needed after an especially hard year.

Getting to hang out with our friends Meg & Chris in Hawaii!  Last time I "hung out" with Meg in Hawaii, we ran a marathon.  This was definitely better.

These guys were EVERYWHERE!

Working off some mai tais with a hike at Volcanoes National Park.

Just strolling through a volcanic crater.  No big deal.

One of many gorgeous sunsets during our stay.

We wrapped up our home(less) leave back in Portland and stayed with my parents for our return visit, so we got to play a lot of bridge… and drink a lot of wine.  We did much of that card-playing and wine-drinking in their basement, since we were there for 100+ degree heat wave #2.  It was great to be back in Portland for summer to see all the flowers blooming and get to celebrate Father’s Day and my parents’ anniversary with them in person for the first time in several years… but I could have done without the sweltering heat.  Good practice for what comes next, I suppose.

This is actually the perfect spot to play cards (and drink wine) during a heat wave.  Look at the multi-tasking you can do!  Laundry?  No prob.  Need some potato chips?  You're set.

Now we’re back in Washington DC where I have some training – including “learning” Indonesian – before we head to Jakarta next year.  After our palatial digs in Harare, we are getting acclimated to living (and working – since we’re both teleworking for now) in a 700-square foot apartment – our “home” for the next year.  But Whole Foods and Trader Joes are a stone’s throw from our front door.  It’s good to be home.