Thursday, March 6, 2008

Social life in Jakarta for expat wives

Actually, I'm wondering what I'm going to do in Jakarta. Back home in KL, I have friends that I can call up for a lunch or a meet. Now what?

I do not fit the profile of the other expat wives that are in our social circle. They are mainly British, in their mid to late 40s (I think! God.. I hope they don't kill me for exposing their ages! Hehe), some of them have children in the home and most seem to be able to drink quite a bit without falling over. I am, er... okay lah.. in my early 30s, we're still working on getting a baby and I get really happy after a drink or two. While I do enjoy their company and learning the "British way of life" from them, sometimes I feel as if I'm a tropical fish in a sea full of er... cod. (It's the only northern fish I know)

So I'm wondering if I can make friends with the locals but they all seem to be either a) glamourous and rich and snooty and use tons of hairspray b) the maids

I checked out the British Women's Assoc for a lark. They have Full and Partial membership. Full members are either British nationals or spouses of British nationals. Oh. That's me then. Spouse of British national. Then I took a look at their activities and it listed things such as "...bridge, sewing, Scottish country dancing..."

I think I'll just run off with the young handsome pool boy.

7 comments:

  1. Hi, found your blog in expatwomen.com. As I'm Indonesian, I can understand your frustration to find new friends in the new country. But trust me, behind the high hair and massive amount of hairspray, not all of them are as snotty as their look:). If you go to Eastern Promise you will find more laid back and mixed crowds.

    Good luck on settling in Jakarta!

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  2. Hi there! Thanks for dropping by! I would really like to make some local friends as I don't see the point of going to another country and just making friends with fellow expats... waste of time. Maybe I just haven't met the right people yet! :)) I'm remaining positive though and am confident I will enjoy Jakarta.

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  4. babe ... i'm sure u will soon fit in really well. they will all love u :) and as for bridge and drinking ... u can practise. and u already have one thing very Brit (other than Top Monkey) which is your allegiance to Liverpool !!! :) hug hug!

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  5. shortcake: Aww... thanks for the support! I'm not sure the expat wives like talking football though, they're usually complaining the men don't pay attention to them when footie is on and it's hard for me to sympathise. LOL I will of course update this blog with my attempts to Brit-ify myself and you can enjoy yourself laughing at my silliness.

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  6. Hi..I'm concerned about the same thing..I'm from singapore and will be moving to jakarta to be an expat wife in jan 09. I'm really freaking out. I work at the mo and dont think i will be able to be a housewife when im there. WHere do you live? We will be putting up at pondoh indah.

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  7. Ranjit: Hi there, we're in Kemang. Pondok Indah is a nice area, close to Pondok Indah Mall which is a good family shopping mall and Ranch Market, which caters to expats and the upmarket locals.
    I suppose I settled in fairly quickly bec I have a baby to think about. Most expat women here focus on their kids and/or various activities organised by the expat communities like ANZA and JICC. Jkt is quite, quite different from Sing though and it will be a little culture shock. But keep positive, keep an eye out and trust me you will find friends here eventually. Most expat women will band together and share tips on life here, so it's ok.

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