Eat, Pray, Love, Dance, and Shop?

One thing you can say about life as an expat; life is never boring!  At least not for me.  
Here are a few things our family did in March . . .

EAT - Some friends in our compound organized a neighborhood block party.  Lots of fun and lots to eat.  And, we couldn't help notice the irony that our Australian friends were "manning" the grill and always wanted to "put another shrimp on the barbie!"

PRAY - We were invited to a lovely Passover seder by some Jewish friends and colleagues of Darren, who are living in Jakarta.  Funny too, in Washington, DC we had not really kept up much of a Jewish community, but here, in a predominantly Muslim country, where Judiasm is not even recognized as a valid religion, we suddenly have events to go to every Passover, Hanukkah, Yom Kippur.  Whodda thunk it?

LOVE - our kids practically LIVE at, and LOVE their school, Jakarta International School (JIS), and we do too.  Here we enjoyed a Family Fun Fair at the school, with games, rides, and an international food bazaar.

 

 

 

DANCE - A local community choir of mostly Indonesians and a few expats, put on a show as a tribute to Saturday Night Fever music.  I'm constantly amazed here how much American music is played and loved.  Even music from the 70's, 80's, 90's, etc.  And, they know every (English) word, too!  This event was a lot of fun and the kids and I even got into the spirit of things and dressed up for the occasion.

SHOP! - Some friends and I went to check out the bargains and "chatchkes" at one of the local Indonesian markets.  As you can see, I had more fun taking pictures than shopping.

 An unfortunate, but common sight in Indonesia - kids on motorbikes, squashed in the middle, with no
helmets or protection.

Our fearless brigade of shoppers!

Cute girls in matching batik dresses!

One of the not-so-clean rivers of Jakarta.

 

These people asked to take a picture with us, and then several people ran from across and down
the street just to join the picture too.