First year in Jakarta

It's hard to believe, but the end of last month marked a full year of my being in Indonesia. I can't believe it's been that long already, that I have already spent a full year in plus 31-33 degrees weather, 11 of the 12 months living in a glorified dorm-room, but it's true. I've been here for a full year now, and I must say I am even feeling quite settled.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind since I got here, and certainly there have been a lot adjustments needed on my part, and a lot of learning that has happened. Since I've been here, I have had to really throw all my presumptions out at the door. Any assumptions I would have previously made based on what I have seen to be normal in the past - in Canada and Europe as well - have not necessarily held any sway here. Things are all done the Indonesian way, whatever that happens to mean in any specific circumstance. And the Indonesian way is not always similar to the Canadian way at all.

To celebrate my anniversary of living in Indonesia, I have compiled a list of just some of the surprises, discoveries, adjustments, and experiences that I've had since I've been here in Indonesia. The list is not inclusive by any means, but touches on some of the main things I've noticed.



I have had to change my whole wardrobe. While it's unbelievably hot and humid here, Indonesia is also a very conservative society (and everyone is very fit), so I have had to change my way of dressing to things that are manageable in the heat, but still cover my arms and legs for the most part, or at least are very decent.

My now-disastrous hair. Something about the combination of heat and humidity has given me the hair of Hermione Granger in the books, not the movies. I have tried everything, and have yet to find a half-suitable solution for it, so instead I have resorted to keeping my hair up in a ponytail or semi-tight bun every single day, although when I leave it in just a ponytail, it often still ends up bushy after an hour, and my fly-aways look like pieces of straw sticking straight out of my head in all directions. It's a disaster. But thank goodness for hair elastics.

Food. I have fell in love with Indonesian food. I have grown to look forward to eating all the things I eat here every day, and to eating rice. But I have also had to adjust to generally not eating the things I used to eat every week at home. Some of the things I no longer eat regularly here, but used to love include: salad, cheese, crusty breads, pastas, many baked goods, and steak.

Sweating all the time.

The overall absence of traffic lights, and general chaos of roads here.

Doubling on a motorcycle rather than driving a car.

Living in a very small space.

Not knowing almost anyone else whose first language is English.

Seeing very few other caucasians regularly.

Having little tiny ants everywhere. Literally.

Having to change my wake-up time to 5:00am, as school starts at 6:30 am here. (i.e. Getting up unbelieveably early. Every day.)

Very seldom using my oven because it's so hot, and in my previous apartment, if I turned on the oven without unplugging my fridge, hot water heaters, and turning off the AC, the breaker for my whole apartment would blow.

Teaching full time. Having to be prepared to guide my students' time for hours on end every day of the week.

Not feeling able to run outside anymore because a) it's pretty hot, but more importantly b) because I feel many people stare at me when they see me outside, cause I'm the only white person.

No sidewalks.

Very few natural spaces or parks considering the size of the city I live in.

Travelling for about an hour on a motorbike anytime I want to go anywhere other than my school or the gym.

Many things being a lot cheaper than back home, but then also some things seeming unaffordable or the exact same price.

A different approach to rules.

Work days that are at minimum 9 hours at my school.

People running on my time. So relaxed. Even the school bells are 2 minutes behind at my school.

Never understanding 100 per cent of what's going on around me, unless it's at school, or people are speaking English just for me.

Elevator men at the mall beside my house. In suits.

No kissing in public. I mean it. It's actually sort of illegal here.

An unbelieveable selection of amazing food just a click or a few minutes drive away.

Unending options for places to explore (esp if you have a motorbike.)

Tropical islands and snorkeling just $10.00 and a 3 hour boat ride away.

Being treated like a princess every time I go to a restaurant, shopping, or anywhere, because customer service is just that good here.

Girls my age all being married and getting pregnant. (But maybe that's partly just that I'm getting older!)

Going out in plus 30 degrees with a jacket on; saying it's chilly, and enjoying the jacket.

Seeing monkeys on my way home almost every second day.

The sun going down at 6:00 pm every night here. All year.

Fancy people enjoying the heck out of shopping malls.

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And here are some photos of the sights that frame most of my days.

Top-down view of Baywalk Mall, the mall attached to my apartment complex

Morning shot at an intersection on my way to school.

Dhanang and me at Jakarta Fair in Kemayoran. There are always events going on around the city to take in.

A gerobak pasar. Little trolleys selling fresh fruit, veggies, and other everyday food items. 

Some of the monkeys that hang out beside the road on my route home from school.

Doing marking at a nearby coffee shop. Jakarta is full of amazing coffee shops, and these became a real save for me last year when I couldn't stand my depressing, minuscule apartment. I would go to a coffee shop and do marking or reading almost every day after school (alternating with going to the gym other nights). 

Raft on the way home from school. Indonesians are incredible at making solutions for problems they see in everyday life, and there are not so many regulations on construction and so forth in the city. So if they see (for example) that they want to cross a river every day, they don't wait for the city to build a bridge. They just set up a dock from some bamboo and a few men begin a new job pulling a raft across the river on a rope all day every day. Anyway, this raft situation is on my way home from work, and I take it home often for $0.30 a pop.

Indonesian guys having a little photoshoot with Aria at Mount Bromo. This is a crazy part of being a Westerner in Indonesia. Locals will want to take photos with you. If you go to a half-touristy place, it's likely you will get bogged down for at least 20 minutes of various groups of locals asking you for photos. Because once you say yes to one photo, others see you're willing, and come for photos, too. 

An Indonesian feast: Nasi Tunpeng. As I said, Indonesian food is beyond amazing.

The boat we take when we go to Pulau Seribu, the tropical islands near my house. I'll never get over how lucky I am to have tropical islands just a boat ride away from my place.