How long 'til I feel at home?

Culture shock: When the lack of familiar reference points and behavioral norms leads to overload and emotional stress.

• Begin to miss home, family, friends, home culture - yes I'd like some snow too
• Begin to question yourself, your values - not really...
• May feel lonely, withdrawn, frustrated, irritable, angry, bored or anxious - If crying  of frustration and impatience in a waiting room of a hospital counts, then yes. :)
• May experience physical ailments, fatigue or depression - My blood pressure's never been so low, yes.
• Experience disorientation regarding how to work with and relate to others - Because it's not about them? :)
• Notice differences between the two cultures (and with the stress of adjustment, these differences seem more irritating than they might normally be) - YES YES YES YES YES YES
• Become critical and impatient of the new culture - Couldn't have said it better.

I have to say it doesn't help that the Hostility period ( as they call it on the graph) correlates with 1: my first scooter accident, 2: me getting robbed on the street at night 6 days before Christmas break...

So anyways... according to the graph things should get back to normal by the end of January. 

On Thursday I am leaving the country to go to Australia for 18 days with Fanny! We'll be road tripping the western part of Australia (From Perth to Broome) and enjoying every bit of clean fresh air, wearing shorts and tank tops without feeling inappropriate, clean roads/malls/restaurants/hotels and cheap alcohol! 

Merry Christmas to you all, ours is going to be AMAZING. 

Playing guitar on your must-do list.

        Living in Jakarta definitely has many downfalls: one of them being the considerable amount of time spent indoors... mostly due to a lack of open green spaces and overwhelming traffic.

"Increasing Jakarta's green spaces is not a priority for the city administration, which focuses more on transportation and housing, a spatial planning expert says." "Green areas have long been an issue in the thriving metropolis of Jakarta, and some observers have said the lack of green spaces makes the city less livable." Jakarta Post June 06 2010

       Though, many of us expatriates have chosen to look on the bright side and simply convert this particular problem into an opportunity: in deed we have decided to dedicate this precious time to pursue our passion for some, improve a skill or take on a new activity for others. For me, I have chosen to take on ...drum roll.. guitar! 


      The fact that guitar is to Indonesia what soccer is to France... helps the learning process. The price of a brand new guitar starts at 80 euros and the opportunity to see extremely talented guitar players endless... In pubs, bars or at concerts like the one I had the pleasure to go to on Wednesday: Dewan Budjana.

  "He is the lead guitarist and songwriter of the band Gigi. Budjana’s style changed dramatically to jazzas he got to know John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Jeff Beck, John Abercrombie, Chick Corea and Weather Report. Dewa Budjana has collaborated with many famous guitarists such as Tohpati,Ridho and Abdee Negara. His ability to combine jazz and rock has put him among the top Indonesian guitarists. Wikipedia"

Love C-

Ranch market is my new vision of Disney World.

     Have you ever noticed how sometimes what you used to consider mediocre food brands suddenly become delicacies? After a long day of work and my first scooter accident, walking through isles of JIF Peanut Butter, Campbell's Soup, Kraft Mac and Cheese and Aunt Jemima Pancakes Mix almost brought tears to my eyes...

Fanny and I cutting the turkey

          
          When I read three weeks ago that Ranch Market every year imports hundreds of turkeys from the United States and sells already made Pumpkin pies, I had the idea to organize my first Thanksgiving dinner in Indonesia. I sent out detailed recipes of different typical dish to my French guests and agreed on meeting at my house on November 25th.

Thanksgiving plate

Appetizers

     Fanny's and I first Thanksgiving dinner couldn't have been better (aside from the small oven accident that almost blew the house out :). 

     I thank all my guest for contributing to this wonderful American tradition while keeping their undeniable culinary French touch. Thank you also to our house keeper Purwanti, that made sure to startcook the turkey while we were at work.

Because games are fun!

    

Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends. I miss you more than you could ever imagine.

Love, C-

Ring, ring why don't you stop calling?

                On Tuesday night I teach a weekly adult yoga class at my school. The more I teach, the more I want to learn. It is an amazing experience and I am very grateful to have returning students every week. Yesterday we had it all: new softened lightning, available yoga mats, air conditioning, a great sound system and a subtle smell of incense. 30 sun salutations later, my students and I were finally relaxing in Shavasana (dead's man pose). As we were laying there with no movement, listening to our breath coming back to its natural state, our relaxation was brutally disturbed by a cell phone ring tone obviously set on maximum volume. The owner of the phone stood up, frantically searched her purse and finally... answered the call!

              The person in question is Indonesian and what she did right then is not considered a lack of respect at all in this culture. From a outsider's perspective: it really seems like blackberries, Iphones, cellphones are Indonesian people's best friend. Definitely a very annoying aspect of Jakarta.

             At the end of the class, while reflecting on culture differences, I approached the woman and kindly asked her to never bring her phone back to class again. That day I practiced yoga.

Is it PETA* approved?

             While for some of us November is referred to as a turkey, pumpkin pies and American football indicator, for other it is synonym of hundred of goat and cows waiting in the street to get their throats cut open.

   In deed Eid al- Adha or "Festival of sacrifice" is coming up on Nov 16! It is an important religious holiday that commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God. On this particular holiday, "the meat is divided into three equal parts to be distributed to others. The family retains one third of the share, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the other third is given to the poor & needy." (Wikipedia) 

You know you've been living in a big city when:

• the smell of cows and goats along the streets of Jakarta is appealing to you because it reminds you of the country side. 

I've fallen into that category.

Love C-






PETA *: People for the ethical treatment of animals

Komodo dragons: myth or reality?

        Today we arrived in Jakarta on time. None of ours flights were delayed and the landings and take-offs were excellent. A beautiful way to end what I count as one of my favorite vacation of all time.

        After an eventful first part in Sumatra, Fanny, Laurent, Ophelie, Tony and I embarked on a small cruise ( 18 passengers, 5 crew members) 5 days ago in Lombok (a heavenly island east of Bali). On board there were 2 Germans, 2 Dutch, 7 French, 4 australians, One Polish, and 2 Canadians... A total blast! On our first few days on the boat we spent most of our time snorkeling through turquoise waters, spotting rays, cow fish, baby barracudas and much more.  

       Our third stop was Komodo Island: one of the 17,508 island that make up the Republic of Indonesia; Also known for its unique fauna: the Komodo dragons. There are more than 5,000 Komodos dragons on the island and a 98 percent chance for visitors to experience a face to face encounter with a giant lizard. So we thought...

      Komodo dragons are cold blooded animals, they spend most of the day regulating their temperature and avoiding being too hot or too cold. To make sure we would see the reptiles, our group set off for the "adventure trail" at 7 a.m in the morning. By mid-trail people were obviously getting anxious to see the dragons. By the end, we were part of the 2 percent visitors every year that don't see a single Komodo dragon EXCEPT for the one visibly high on xanax near the restaurant for emergency cases like ours. :) Everyone had a really good laugh and we all jumped back on the boat for our final destination, the island of Flores. 

Thank you again to Fanny, Laurent, Ophelie and Tony without whom I wouldn't have spent and shared such great laughs and moments.

I apologize for the lack of pics- I am currently in the process of collecting pictures and videos from my friends of our trip to make a movie montage which I hope I will be able to publish online soon. 

Love C-

We survived Mina (the Ourangutan not the hurricane)

Untitled from Caroline Hendel on Vimeo.



o·rang·u·tan. n.

• An arboreal anthropoid ape (Pongo pygmaeus) of Borneo and Sumatra, having a shaggy reddish-brown coat, very long arms, and no tail.

In Bahasa:

•  Orang, man + hutan, jungle

       On Saturday October 23rd, Laurent and I started our Toussaint vacation by setting off to the island of Sumatra.We stayed at the Garden Inn, a beautiful guest house owned by a colleague of ours and her husband in Bukit Lawang,a village only 96km northwest of Medan. Our number one motivation for this particular destination was the proximity (right in front of the hostel) of the biggest orang-utan conservation programme in the world, operated in the Gunung Leuser National Park.

   

Oman fighting the Orangoutan

          With more than 5000 animals thought to be living in the wild, we were certain to come across many during our 2 day trek in the jungle. At 8.00 a.m we started our ascent and soon spotted a female Orangutan and her baby hanging in the trees. 

          

Female orangutan,give birth to one child every 6 years. The offspring is known to stay near his mom until the age of 10. In other words: a strong bonding you don't want to mess with.

No more fruit for us!

           A couple of hours later of profuse jungle sweating we had our first encounter with Mina the Orangutan you don't want to see. Although Mina is a semi-wild Orangutan (which means that she is used to being fed and taken care of by humans), she will not let you pass her without giving her food. Our guide, who's been bit by her before wasn't ready to give in again. The inevitable happened: Mina slowly started to come down the trees, and we were told to walk (as fast as we could) in the other direction. End of the story.

Waterrrrrfall

"Mina, who arrived at the rehabilitation center in 1979, is an ex-captive, rehabilitated and released orangutan who now freely roams the forests of the GLNP."Lonely Planet

           Another memorable moment during our trek happened as we were snacking on fruits along a small river in the middle of the jungle. The guide had just opened a pack of delicious Indonesian named lychees, when suddenly a mom utan and her baby came out  from nowhere right in front of us, stole all of our fruits and sat down literally 5 foot away from us. She obviously was used to human presence and was soon recognized by the guide as one of the semi-wild orangutans. Pictures and videos to come!!

FABULOUS EXPERIENCE!

As we were in the jungle, a tsunami hit the western coast of the island of Sumatra, on the opposite coast of where we were...

Love C-!

 

---

It's all BAGGUS, except when there is HUJAN.

Before I used to speak Frenglish, now I just speak Bahaglish.

Yep, that's right after 2 month in Indonesia I was finally able to understand an entire text message from my ojek Kiki (motorcycle chauffeur) that had at least 3 sentences.    How 'bout that?
     
        In my opinion, bahasa Indonesia is a pretty fun language to learn. For example to make plurals, Indonesian just say the word twice: anak is a kid, anak-anak is kids. Another logical component of the language is, let's say rumah is room: rumah makan (literally room and eat) is restaurant, rumah sakit (room and sick) is hospital and so on...

Also, there are no conjugaison, everything is in imperative present form. Altough words like yesterday (kemarin) or tomorrow (besok) exist, everything here is deeply rooted in the present...

Another funny thing about he language is to say  I like to eat   you say   Miss Caroline suka makanan. In other words Indonesians very often will use the third person singular ( as if you're talking about someone else) to refer to themselves. haha.

         Having a maid and an ojek that don't know a word of English or French definitely helped me improve faster. I bet many of you are still thinking "people must speak a little English in a capital of 10,000,000 people, Caroline is exaggerating". WRONG, wrong, wrong, and yes it does get on my nerves OFTEN. On the positive side, as an English speaking teacher to French kids it helps me understand their highly expressive distress, irritation and annoyance  they have with me by the end of a regular school day.

To finish, some words that have been very useful in my daily life so far are:
Hujan : rain,  Saya perlu : I need,  Makanan: to eat, Baik baik: I'm good, Aba kapar?: How are you?, jam berapa? what time...?, saya capek: I'm tired,  saya sakit sidikit: I'm a little sick, saya suka gado-gado: I like gado-gado (typical vegetable dish), ya, bisa: yes, I can, tolong camu bisa beli: can you  please buy...? Baggus: good (in it's all good), and my favourite ... tidak gawat : No big deal!

I am in Bukit Lawang as I am writing... in a super small internet place among the Orang-Outang. I am on vacation and having therefore a lot of time to realize how much  I am missing my friends and  family.

With  L.o.v.e, C-

Eat, pray, love at Caroline's

           Yesterday as a reward for our long, patience-full, hard-working week, Fanny and I indulged in a girls' movie out night + carb overload feast. We decided to go see Eat, Pray, Love at the Pondok Indah mall also known as PIM among citizens of South Jakarta and opted for The Premiere theatre: " concept of cinema that is equipped with all the luxuries, including a special lobby, special sofa that feels like an airplane's business class sofa with blankets and other luxuries", for 7 USD. Once comfortably seating in our lounge sofa with our blankets and hot chocolate, we were off for 2 and a half hours of pure woman pornography (as a man I once knew would say!). 

           The movie is about a woman that realizes in her thirties she needs to travel and explore the world and find what she really is meant to be and do in this world. Aside from enjoying the colors, pictures and music from the movie,  Fanny and I most importantly found ourselves extremely content with our lives and choices: we sort of looked at each other and realized that unlike Liz from the movie, we had no regrets and had made the right choices early in life to be where we needed to be. 


On a different note, I am teaching a on hour yoga class for colleagues at the school every Tuesday evenings in a nice little studio at the school. Our first class went great and I am looking forward to many many more. I should also be signing up for the yoga teacher training in Bali in July 2011. 

Namaste.

Thursday night : SALSA!

Salsa at the Ritz Carlton

           Wherever I lived, I've always felt true happiness when dancing salsa... Not long after I arrived in Jakarta, I started asking around and searching the internet for my next salsa spot. I ended up going to my first salsa night last Thursday at the Ritz Carlton Jakarta: totally beyond my expectations. An awesome live Indonesian native spanish speaking salsa band, working air conditioning, nice people and a fabulous colombian salsa dancer without whom I most likely wouldn't have dance as much; The Indonesian dancers don't really dance with Caucasian women... expect if they are what we call P.Is : personal instructors... in which case you pay them to dance with you. Did you say Salsa prostitute? :) Am I in the Indonesian version of Dirty  Dancing?

After quick consideration, I think having 2 men in my life right now is already enough: my Ojek driver Kiki and Rony, my devoted personal trainer.

Salsa night

            Even if I had a great time, salsa dancing in Jakarta made me feel nostalgic about Portland: the Mumbo lounge, and not one but hundreds of South American dancers. Which led me to think: what if Colombia was the next country on my "to-live" list?

C-

Selamat Datang to Denpasar, Bali.

I am back from my weekend in Bali. What a trip.


Eric, Fanny, J.P and myself left Jakarta International airport at 8 p.m (originally the flight was at 6 p.m). We arrived an hour and a half later in Bali and took a taxi to our hotel which was located in Kuta Bay (Kuta, Seminyak, Legian), also known as the most touristic area of Bali (which I, of course didn't know). My first impressions of the island weren't that positive... Hundreds of Aussies and Japanese (no offense ;) ) drinking beers on the beach isn't what I expected Bali to be like.

On Saturday we decided to meet up with Fanny's friends at the very south tip of the island in Pura Ulu Watu: an internationally known surfing spot. It was very interesting to talk to all the different surfers and get their ideas and thoughts on "how to share a wave properly" and who from the French or the Americans have the best conduct in the ocean. From what I've heard the French are not the most humble people in the water... Thumbs up for keeping up the reputation guys! ;)



On Saturday night we went out in Kuta on the famous Legian street. Bars, clubs, bars, clubs, bars, clubs and thousands of Aussies and Japanese people everywhere (again, no offense). As I was walking down the street it suddenly occurred to me that I was most likely walking down the same street where the 2002 bomb attack happened. I look up and I see an enormous monument with hundreds of names listed, 202 to be more precise. "Interestingly" enough it happened on that very same weekend 8 years ago.


On our way back we left the airport at 10 p.m (originally the flight was at 8 p.m). As a conclusion, it was a very interesting weekend, however next time I go, I will make sure to go the softer, more yoga like part of the island.

Merapi on the verge of erupting?

Philippe ZELLER

Ambassadeur de France en Indonésie

prie

Madame Caroline HENDEL

de lui faire l’honneur de venir à

une conférence intitulée

« Volcan et Société en Indonésie, gestion des risques »,

le jeudi 30 septembre 2010 à 18h30 à la Résidence de France

Tenue de ville/ Batik                                       R.S.V.P.

1, Jl. Sinabung – Kebayoran Baru                 Tél. : 23 55 76 44/11/00

Jakarta Selatan

And then there was me, feeling important ;).

The conference was really interesting and I thought I should write about it before I forget important data. Attached to the post is a map of the important volcanos in Indonesia. Currently there are 125 active volcanos (including the under-water ones)! Volcanos are in deed a big part of the Indonesian culture and are often both sacred and feared. 

The subject is all the more important that rumors has it that the Merapi is about to erupt; mount Merapi is located near the city of Yogyakarta (an hour away from Jakarta) and is known to erupt every 4 years. Last eruption was in 2006. It's 2010, I'll let you do the math. Mount Merapi eruption are particularly known for the 1994 eruptions that killed 74 people following the wide spreak of CO2 hot gaz. 

Speaking of fatalities, the second part of the conference highlighted the importance and difficulties related to the arrangement for the evacuation of people living around volcanos. Scientist often come against a wall when facing very religious/spiritual populations that refuse to believe scientific data. 

Finally to put things into perspective : the number of fatalities in Indonesia related to volcanoes ever recorded is less than the number of victims recorded in one day following the 2004 Tsunami.

I'm definitely loving this country more and more.

C-

Do you surf?

Last weekend Fanny and 7 other friends all went together to Pelabuan Ratu and rented a beautiful house right on the beach. It is a nice small town located 4hours away from Jakarta, on the western coast of Java. The main activity in Pelabuan Ratu is surfing. I tried surfing 5 years ago with my friend Brian in California.   Aside from the Indonesian warm water, the outcome of my second surfing experience was the same: unsuccessful multiple trials and an enormous bruise on my oh so white leg. I had fun anyways and really enjoyed my time away from the city.

During our weekend I met an American person, the second one only since I got here. I chatted a bit with him and told him how surprised I was not to see more Americans around Jakarta. He then told me that the American government highly discourages its citizen to travel to Indonesia for security reasons. So I went on the the U.S department of state website and found the evidence: "Crime can be a problem in some major metropolitan areas in Indonesia.  ", "U.S. citizens should be aware that a real or even perceived offense may generate a violent response from local people.", "Extremists may target both official and private interests, including hotels, clubs, and shopping areas. ", "November 2009, unknown assailants shot at foreigners in Banda Aceh".... and BLA BLA BLA.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_2052.html#safety

So far what I've seen of this country is the EXTREME OPPOSITE of how this website portraits Indonesia and its population. I've never met such loyal, straight, honest and generous people in my whole life... can't always judge a book by its cover... especially when the cover is made my the U.S government, can you?

Ojek please!

Eric, a colleague of mine and I were happy to catch a Bajai in front of the school to drive us to the gym in Kemang. It was 5.20, my class started at 6.00, it's ony 2.3 km away; we'll be there in no time... NOT. Although walking in Jakarta is rarely an option (even google maps.com doesn't give you the option to walk in Jakarta), after 40 minutes of sitting, sweating and pollution inhaling, Eric and I finally jumped off the Bajai  and walked our way to the gym.

Once at the gym I talked to the customer service department about my options as far as transport. Here is what it comes down to:

• Taxi with high risk of being stuck in traffic
• Bajai with high risk of being stuck in traffic + being exposed to pollution and heat
• Walking with no sidewalks and with a high chance of getting hit by a car
• Going by bike with a high chance of getting hit by a car
• Ojek (also known as hopping on the back of a motorcycle) with NO risk to be stuck in traffic, known to be good drivers, but having to wear stinky, gross helmets.

Ojek it is. I'll borrow a helmet from Fanny.

Depending on the frequency and area of usage, there are different ways to pay an Ojek. For me the most interesting deal would be to hire a personal 44/7 Ojek. In other words I need to find an Ojek, negotiate a fix monthly salary ( max 400 000 Rupiah = 38 Euros), exchange numbers so I can text him when and where he needs to pick me up, close the deal. Yeah... easier said than done.

C-

Afternoon rain in Jakarta ain't for pussies.

This afternoon I was sitting in a classroom with two other teachers, preparing for a parent-teacher conference. As usual it starts raining at about 3 p.m ("As usual" isn't quiet the right expression since July, August and September are supposed to be all part of the so-called dry season). So far nothing special. 4 p.m still raining and now the thunder is right above our heads. All good. 30 minutes most of the classroom was flooded. Typical.

Not only did I discovered that flooded classroom and flooded streets were normal life to any Indonesian, I also learn that tiles breaking and exploding in classroom,houses and restaurants are common practice too. In deed because the tiles are not set properly, as soon as the humidity index increases, the tiles elevate and eventually explode and break. You know... nothing crazy:  "ONLY 3 or 4 times a year" in each class.

flooded streets

flooded streets

A dog bakery? not in Jakarta.

This week I was taking to a colleague of mine, Laurence who moved from Switzerland to Indonesia a couple years ago with her two kids, her husband, her cat and her dog. She was telling me how hard it was for her to find a maid when she arrived. Interestingly enough the problem wasn't money or time constraints, the problem resided in what we also know as the man's best friend: her 3 year old cocker.

Though she found a person that was comfortable enough to feed her dog, she often still needs to walk the dog around the neighborhood. Every walk is subject to screams, name calling and finger pointing. Not only do Indonesian not like dogs, they fear them too: guards, policemen, you name it...
In comparison, tt's hard to believe that a couple of month ago I was living in, Portland Oregon, the number one dog friendly city in the United States that offers gluten free pastries in speciality bakeries for dogs only.

So I went to look for more info on the subject and found the following: "Muslims generally cast dogs in a negative light because of their ritual impurity...", "It is said that angels do not enter a house which contains a dog.", "...black dogs are evil, or even devils, in animal form...". 

Selamat IDUL FITRI to you all.

C-

Sunday has become my favourite day of the week.

Jakarta street on Sunday

My rommate on our favourite vehicule!

Sunday brunch with the girls

Pool time at J.P's house

Bright orange and noisy ... easily describes a bajaj.

My first week-end in Jakarta went very well. While Saturday turned out to be a busy day; in deed buying food and drinks, exchanging money and cooking takes a entire day in Jakarta... especially on a Saturday. Fanny organized a house warming for me and we invited friends over. Fun fact number one: parties don't  ever get out of control in Jakarta; the price of the cheapest bottle of wine is 15 USD!

And then Sunday came... Indonesians stay at home on Sunday which means you can actually circulate around your neighborhood and beyond by car, scooter or bicyle without any big chances of getting hit by a car or stuck in traffic for hours. What a relief. Fanny and I took the opportunity to drive to brunch on her scooter. We met up with friends and had japenese food in a "very expatriate-like" restaurant in Kemang, with  a "very expatriate-like" menu and a "very expatriate-like" bill as well! We spent the rest of the day at the Spa... I had a pedicure, manicure, massage, and hair brushing done for a total of .... 16 USD. Is that what heaven looks like?

Next week Indonesia is celebrating the end of Ramadan also known as IDUL FITRI, 90 percent of the population goes on vacation, back to their village or stay at home...For the expatriates it is the perfect occasion to visit a bit more of the city and ride around on a scooter just for the sake of no traffic. :)

The Ant episode

The street my house in on. The blue gate in the background is ours.

Today I came back from work exhausted... I went to the kitchen to get myself a fruit and discovered 2 delicious looking dinner plates that Purwanti had prepared for us for dinner. As I look closer to see what the ingredients are, I see ants (aka semut) crowling everywhere in one of the plates. I called Purwanti to let her know and insisted on this being TIDAK GAWAT (it doesn't matter, nothing to worry about). While a lot of Americans and French would have thrown the dish away, Purwanti on the other hand open the gaz stove and gently hovered the plate above the fire in order to get the ants out of there. She stood there for 15 minutes and eventually got rid of every single ant and put the plate this time back in the fridge. :)

New words I learnt today:

Saya Capek : I am tired
It's raining/rain : Hujan
Wait! : Tunggu
Sleep: Tidur
Yesterday: Kemarin
Difficult: susah
Ant: semut
No worries : tidak gawat

I have two rooms to myself and a maid. Life is good.

Entrance

Selamat Sore (good evening :))

My roomate, Fanny came back from France yesterday which allowed me to move in earlier than I thought. The house is beautiful, it is in a gated expat neighborhood called Cipete... literally 5 min away from the school. The house has 4 big rooms, 4 toilets, a beautifully decorated entrance (Fanny's been living here for 5 years, she's travelled EVERYWHERE in South East Asia and brought back many decorative furniture), a nice living/dining room area, an outdoor patio and a cute kitchen. The house also has an ensuite where the maid (her name is Pawaranti) washes and irons the clothes. It is more than anything I could have wished for. I took pictures today and hope to put them up as soon as possible...Life is good.

Today was my first day at the LIF too. The doors of the school were open to staff only. Aside from me there are 5 other new teachers... Everybody is really nice and welcoming. The school looks brand new and the atmosphere among the staff is very friendly and inviting. I am sure the next month will be pretty busy and I'm looking forward to concentrating on work and knowing my colleagues.

The weather hasn't been bad at all... it is hot and humid but very comfortable at the same time. For some reasons it still is a little rainy and overcast ( which is not normal at all apparently since we are in the middle of the dry season) which unfortunately attracts.... MOSQUITOES! 100 of them are eating my feet as I am writing...

And yes I have yet to discover more of the city of Jakarta and its people ( I have started to learn a bit of Bahasia Indonesia on the internet and am founding very useful to get around!). I have only been here for 3 days but I do feel a little trapped in my neighborhood/street. The traffic is very bad and right now I don't really have the time to sit an hour and and a half to travel 10km to the nearest supermarket. Next week is the end of Ramadan also called IDUL FITRI. We have Thursday and Friday off and hope to take advantage of my extended weekend.

Selamat Jalan,



C-

Street in the evening

Living Room

It's all about expectations...

In the case of uncertainty, expectation is what is considered the most likely to happen. An expectation, which is a belief that is centred on the future, may or may not be realistic.

So I am in my hotel room in Kemang, Jakarta, enjoying the air conditioning and a delicious bowl of Milo cereal with "pasteurisasi homogenisasi" milk (aka Sussu in Indonesian). 

- Jakarta Int Airport isn't as bad as I expected. Immigration went really fast and I was out of there within an hour. Very satisfying. 

- After reading many blogs about people living in Jakarta, I definitely had very low expectation as far as "traffic fluidity". Traffic is bad but not as terrible as I imagined it... which doesn't mean that I am not looking forward to moving in to my house that is 5 min walk away from the school. This right there is going to save me a lot of time and energy and I already feel very grateful. 

- I saw my school today too. It is definitely living up to my expectations. I saw my name on a locker in the teacher's room and felt good. I am proud of myself. :) I am 24 years old and teaching at the International French school of Jakarta. I am so excited to start my job and give it my best. 

- Jakarta is a very warm place to be ... HOWEVER I was expecting so much worse; I'm enjoying the heat and humidity after a cold and wet summer/winter in NZ.

I will try to take pictures and post them as soon as possible. It'd be too much work to try to explain and describe what the streets, the stores look like here; as the adage goes  "A picture is worth a thousand words"... 

All for now.

C-

J-13 days before departure.

J-13 before the big departure! 

• plane ticket - check!
• 1 year working visa - check!
• work, housing, health insurance upon arrival - check!
• randomly looking at blogs of current expatriates - check!
• luggage packed - in process...

As many of you already know, I am moving to Jakarta, Indonesia on August 30th 2010 to start a teaching position at the lycée international français Louis-Charles Damais. 
I will be sharing my time between a bilingual PS class and elementary level students to whom I will be teaching English. Indeed the lycée is offering more and more bilingual education to its students. Classes are taught my 2 teachers (a french speaking and a english speaking) and follow the national french curriculum. 


 For those who'd like to learn more about this program, please refer to the pdf address below:
http://www.lifdejakarta.org/FR/classes_bilingues.pdf


 It is definitely a "dream come true" and feel very fortunate to have been given such an interesting job in such an exotic environment. I am also grateful for my two years spent at the French American school of Portland, Oregon and its AMAZING teachers, aides, staff and friends that encouraged and motivated me to pursue a career in education.

It is my desire to keep up a blog during my time in Jakarta. I cannot wait to write about my crazy experience and what it feels like for a 24 year old, French-American young woman to be living in the twelfth-largest city in the world. I also intend to write in English which I hope will not cause to much comprehension trouble for all my fellow French family and friends out there. :)