The Big City

Since my favorite immigration officials have had their zealous way with my passport for the past five months, I had to spend last Thursday morning at the U.S. Embassy getting extra pages added to it.  While I used to get the common traveler thrill from watching the stamps accumulate in my passport, documenting my explorations, I now look at this little blue book as a remembrance of government bureaucracy and unnecessary stress.  Only one more trip to the Jambi immigration office and then it will be off to Kuala Lumpur to really extend the visa!

Regardless, after that I used the rest of the day to explore Jakarta a bit.  A visit to the National Monument became necessary once I heard that the museum at its base was completely government slanted. 

And it was true.  The timeline of Indonesia’s history that was provided breezed over the tumultuous events of 1965, stated that because Indonesia “faced enemies from outside, it was very difficult to accomplish elections” (this during decades of authoritarian rule), and contradictorily claimed Indonesia “liberated” Papua “by force” after "efforts to claim Papua back through negotiations or the UN were not successful."  The entire timeline ended with a confusing avowal to the “role of the Catholic Church in Indonesia’s independence movement,” (remember this country is almost 90% Muslim). 

After this entertaining experience I walked to the National Museum that actually had a fairly interesting ethnography section on the different island people and cultures that make up Indonesia.  Later I found that Jakarta actually has an aesthetically pleasing neighborhood, maybe because it is reminiscent of European architecture, but the old Dutch quarters of Jakarta had a pleasant public square (with museums I plan to see on my next visit) and a moat lined with old buildings.  The loads of trash in the river, however, quickly dispelled any true hopes for the area.  It is still Indonesia.

The highlight of my time in Jakarta began with an exciting taxi ride (splurge!) through the bright lights, sky risers and fancy shopping centers of downtown Jakarta.  After my months in little old Jambi, this overload to my senses and idea of reality in Indonesia left me in a happy sense of shock as the taxi dropped me off in front of one of the fancy sky risers.  A former coworker at the State Department had put me in touch with a friend at the US Embassy in Jakarta and this very friendly woman had offered me a place to stay.  I have only been out of the US for 7 months now but I think the state of dizzy giddiness I experienced upon entering her apartment, which was nice even for American standards, was due to the complete immersion I have undergone in Jambi.  We chatted over wine and cheese before getting dinner and I took a shower in the fancy marble bathroom about as big as the room I was sharing with four women at the conference.  Oh the little things seem so big sometimes!  The next morning I still had this luxurious American life feeling when I saw a Starbucks at the airport and treated myself to one of the holiday lattes.

Well it is back to reality now in Jambi I am back at work and getting serious about grant writing before my next vacation starts in a couple weeks!